Exploring Social Media Marketing

Transcripción

Towards a Richer Understanding of Social Media
in Postmodernity
Monika Garnyte and Ana de Ávila Pérez
Thesis supervisor: Lars Haahr
MA in Corporate Communication
1st December 2009
Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus
Exploring Social Media Marketing: Towards a Richer Understanding of Social Media in Postmodernity
Acknowledgements
The authors of this thesis would like to thank their supervisor, Lars Haahr, for his guidance and
valuable advice throughout the development of this paper. Their appreciation also goes to Nikolaj
H. Keldorff, project manager at ASB Media, who kindly participated in the research conducted for
this study.
Many thanks also go to Juan Trujillo and Huda Shalhoub, who have taken the time and trouble to
alert us to errors in the text; to Bruno Serrano, who helped us with his IT skills in numerous
occasions; to Joao Almeida, who attempted to arrange an interview between the researchers and one
of the analysed companies; and to Kristina Piskarskaite and Laura Bernataviciute for all their
suggestions and comments.
Special thanks go to the application Skype, which has supported the communication between the
authors of this thesis in the distance; as well as to Google for Gmail, Gtalk, and GoogleDocs, which
contribute it to the daily exchange of ideas. Technology and the aforementioned Internet-based
communication tools, enabled the authors to conduct this research while living in different
countries. Without them, this study would have never been possible.
Finally, the researchers would like to thank their closest friends and their families for all their
support, patience and encouragement.
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Table of Contents:
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................7 The Authorship of the sections.............................................................................................................9 INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................10 1. Methodology ..............................................................................................................................13 1.1. Scientific paradigm: Social Constructivism .......................................................................13 1.1.1. Research Approach ....................................................................................................15 1.1.2. Research Methodology ...............................................................................................16 1.1.2.1. Cases 1 and 2: Nike+ community and The Lost Experience .................................16 1.1.2.2. Case 3: Aarhus School of Business (ASB) ............................................................21 1.2. Thesis Structure ..................................................................................................................24 1.3. Literature and Theoretical Application ..............................................................................27 1.4. Limitations .........................................................................................................................28 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................................................30 2.1. Postmodern marketing........................................................................................................30 2.1.1. Short introduction to postmodernity ..........................................................................30 2.1.2. Why does traditional marketing not work anymore? .................................................35 2.1.3. Implications of postmodernity to marketing ..............................................................37 2.2. Social Media .......................................................................................................................42 2.2.1. What is it?...................................................................................................................43 2.2.2. Technological, social, and business aspects of Social Media. ...................................43 2
2.2.3. Social Media Marketing. ............................................................................................45 2.2.3.1. Social Media Marketing: Definition and objectives ..............................................45 2.2.3.2. Characteristics of Social Media Marketing. ...........................................................47 2.2.3.3. Customer Relationship Management: the core of Social Media Marketing ..........50 2.2.4. Common Social Media Marketing Strategies. ...........................................................52 2.2.4.1. Blogging strategy ...................................................................................................52 2.2.4.2. Virtual community strategy ....................................................................................55 2.2.4.3. Social networking strategy .....................................................................................57 2.2.4.4. Twitter Marketing ..................................................................................................59 2.2.4.5. Viral marketing strategy .........................................................................................61 2.2.4.6. Search engines, RSS, wikis, and podcasts .............................................................62 2.2.5. 2.3. 3. Risks and fears of using social media marketing .......................................................63 Social media marketing and postmodernity .......................................................................65 CASE ANALYSIS .....................................................................................................................68 3.1. Case #1: Nike+ ...................................................................................................................68 3.1.1. Nike’s social media activity previous to Nike+ .........................................................68 3.1.2. Nike+ - the biggest runners’ community online.........................................................73 3.1.3. Nike+ results ..............................................................................................................78 3.2. Case #2: The Lost Experience ............................................................................................85 3.2.1. Pre-campaign stage ....................................................................................................85 3.2.2. The Lost Experience campaign ..................................................................................87 3
3.2.2.1. Key features of The Lost Experience .....................................................................88 3.2.2.2. The Lost Experience phases ...................................................................................90 3.2.3. 4. After The Lost Experience .........................................................................................96 Discussion ................................................................................................................................100 4.1. Nike+ online community and The Lost Experience through the postmodern lens ..........100 4.1.1. Social media marketing strategies ............................................................................100 4.1.2. The postmodern conditions ......................................................................................106 4.2. Theoretical foundation for the relationship between social media marketing and
postmodernity ...............................................................................................................................112 4.2.1. Defining social media marketing .............................................................................112 4.2.2. Social media marketing: the connection between postmodern individuals and
organisations.............................................................................................................................116 4.3. Recommendations: How can social media be used as a marketing tool in the context of
postmodernity? .............................................................................................................................122 4.4. ASB case ..........................................................................................................................126 4.4.1. The overview: Aarhus School of Business ..............................................................127 4.4.2. Aarhus School of business’ social media strategy ...................................................131 4.4.3. ASB social media initiatives ....................................................................................138 4.4.4. Recommendations for ASB social media strategy ...................................................143 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................151 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................157 4
APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………………………. 174
Appendix 1: Questions for the Nike interview............................................................. 174
Appendix 2: Social Media Types................................................................................ 175
Appendix 3: Nike-related documents........................................................................... 179
Appendix 4: Lost-related documents............................................................................. 202
Appendix 5: Screenshots for section 4.2.2......................................................................... 232
Appendix 6: The transcript of the interview with Nikolaj Hoencke Keldorff................... 234
Appendix 7: ASB related documents........................................................................... 247
Number of characters: 259,383
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List of Tables and Figures
Table 1: The Characteristics of the interpretive worldview ...............................................................13 Table 2: Three aspects of postmodern social life ...............................................................................33 Table 3: Postmodern conditions and their main themes ....................................................................34 Table 4: Gillin’s (2008) recommendations for Social Marketing ......................................................46 Table 5: Old Marketing versus New Marketing.................................................................................49 Table 6: ASB social media and other online initiatives ...................................................................132 Figure 1: The use of methodology in the case of ASB ......................................................................23 Figure 2: Thesis structure ...................................................................................................................26 Figure 3: Ranking of social media channels used by organisations ...................................................46 Figure 4: Comments retrieved from Lost’s Facebook page in October 2009. ...................................98 Figure 5: The ASB Organisation (Aarhus School of Business, 2009c) ...........................................130 6
Towards a Richer Understanding of Social Media in Postmodernity
Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus, Denmark
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Marketing professionals and scholars are witnessing the emergence of social media as a
completely new communication tool for directing their marketing messages. Consequently, during
the past few years many books and articles have been published on the subject, although few
authors have investigated this phenomenon in the context of its epoch. Thus, the study explores
social media marketing through the lens of postmodernity. The thesis investigates how companies
can employ social media in order to communicate with postmodern consumers.
Design/methodology/approach: Combining documentation with a one-to-one interview, a multiple
case study is conducted. The paper, conceived as a qualitative study, employs an ‘inductive then
deductive’ reasoning. Thus, the findings, generated from the analysis of two social media marketing
strategies carried out by Nike and ABC, are used to generate a number of general recommendations
for organisations. The recommendations are later applied to the case of Aarhus School of Business
(ASB).
Findings: The papers concludes that social media is a valuable tool for marketers in order to deal
with the chaos, complexity, contradictions and change that postmodernity has brought to the
discipline of marketing. Additionally, the research suggests ASB to provide not only functional, but
also social and entertaining values through its social media strategy, as well as change its focus
from ‘broadcaster’ to ‘mediator’ and ‘facilitator’ of conversations.
Practical implications: The findings of this study are summarised in a number of
recommendations for companies which aim to implement social media marketing strategies in
postmodernity. Furthermore, the paper contributes to the marketing practice through the application
of its findings to a real organisation.
Originality/value: The paper documents the use of two ground-breaking social media strategies;
extends the current literature on social media marketing; offers some recommendations to
companies; and discusses the use of social media marketing in a specific organisation in relation to
its findings.
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Keywords: Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Postmodern Marketing, Postmodernity
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THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE SECTIONS
INTRODUCTION written by Ana de Ávila Pérez
1. Methodology written by Ana de Ávila Pérez
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Postmodern marketing written by Monika Garnyte
2.2. Social Media
2.2.1. What is it? written by Ana de Ávila Pérez
2.2.2. Technological, social, and business aspects of Social Media written by Ana de
Ávila Pérez
2.2.3. Social Media Marketing written by Ana de Ávila Pérez
2.2.4. Common Social Media Marketing Strategies
2.2.4.1. Blogging strategy written by Monika Garnyte
2.2.4.2. Virtual community strategy written by Ana de Ávila Pérez
2.2.4.3. Social networking strategy written by Monika Garnyte
2.2.4.4. Twitter Marketing written by Monika Garnyte
2.2.4.5. Viral marketing strategy written by Ana de Ávila Pérez
2.2.4.6. Search engines, RSS, wikis, and podcasts written by Ana de
Ávila Pérez
2.2.5. Risks and fears of using social media marketing written by Ana de Ávila Pérez
2.3. Social media marketing and postmodernity written by Ana de Ávila Pérez
3. CASE ANALYSIS
3.1. Case #1: Nike+ written by Monika Garnyte
3.2. Case #2: The Lost Experience written by Ana de Ávila Pérez
4. DISCUSSION
4.1. Nike+ online community and The Lost Experience through the postmodern lens written by
Ana de Ávila Pérez
4.2. Theoretical foundation for the relationship between social media marketing and
postmodernity written by Monika Garnyte
4.3. Recommendations: How can social media be used as a marketing tool in the context of
postmodernity? written by Monika Garnyte
4.4. ASB case written by Monika Garnyte
CONCLUSION written by Ana de Ávila Pérez
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INTRODUCTION
“Once every hundred years media changes. The last hundred years have been defined by the
mass media. The way to advertise was to get into the mass media and push out your content.
That was the last hundred years. In the next hundred years information won’t be just pushed
out to people, it will be shared among the millions of connections people have. Advertising
will change. You will need to get into these connections”
Mark Zuckerberg, Co-founder of Facebook (Maymann, 2008).
The business environment is very turbulent in the 21st century. As Smith & Taylor (2004) point out,
in today’s world companies are facing many new unexpected issues, and the growth of the Internet
as a communication channel is probably one of the most influential factors. The Internet not only
made consumers more accessible (Smith & Taylor, 2004), but also carried out the appearance of
completely new communication tools, which make the process of sharing information much easier
and faster (Jaokar, Jacobs, Moore, & Ahvenainen, 2009). As Jaokar et al. (2009) suggest, “the
people formerly known as the audience, are now the media” (p. 1) and, therefore, the way that
companies need to communicate with their publics is also changing.
Thus, consumers and marketers are witnessing the emergence of virtual social networks. In
November 2009 Facebook had more than 300 million active users and 50 per cent of them logged
on to Facebook every day (Facebook, 2009). Moreover, the average Facebook user had 130 friends
on the site, and 45 million active user groups existed on the platform (Facebook, 2009). The
Internet and the online social networks allow individuals to connect with friends, family, colleagues
and like-minded people. Since the beginning of the history, there has never been such an amount of
human beings connected together through a network.
For a marketer, it becomes crucial to understand not only the rules of the medium, but also the
expectations of its users. Nevertheless, although the amount of studies on the use of social media
marketing is increasingly growing, few authors have investigated this phenomenon in the context of
its epoch (Cova, 1996; Simmons, 2008; Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). Social
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media is a product of the postmodern era. As Simmons (2008) points out, marketing professionals
and academicians need to “react” (p. 299) to the change, complexity, chaos and contradiction that
postmodernity has brought to the discipline, in order to secure its contribution in this new era.
Thus, assuming that the human kind lives in the postmodern era, and considering the quick
development of social media, it becomes interesting to investigate how organisations can use this
new communication tool for marketing purposes. Therefore, due to the limited research conducted
in this area, the authors of the present thesis were motivated to explore social media marketing
through the lens of postmodernity.
Problem Statement
The aforementioned facts leaded the authors of this thesis to the following problem statement:
With the complex task of dealing with the change, complexity, chaos and contradiction
that postmodernity has brought to the discipline of marketing, how can social media be
used as a marketing tool in order to communicate with postmodern consumers?
In order to contribute to the academic literature on this particular topic, and to support the findings
of this study with empirical information, the present study will seek to answer the following
research questions (RQ):
RQ1): How are companies using social media to direct their marketing messages to postmodern
consumers?
This study will aim to analyse how companies are using social media in order to communicate with
postmodern consumers. Thus, a qualitative analysis will be conducted on two case studies of
companies which have used social media for marketing purposes. Therefore, an online community
built by Nike1 (The Nike+ community), and an alternate reality game created by ABC2 to promote
its television series Lost (The Lost Experience) will be presented as best practice examples, and
their use of social media will be related to the main conditions of postmodernity highlighted by
Firat & Venkatesh (1995).
1
Nike Inc. is a sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States.
2
American television network, TV broadcaster and producer.
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RQ2): What are the connections between postmodernity and social media marketing?
The researchers will attempt to contribute to the marketing literature by proposing a theoretical
foundation for the relationship between social media marketing and postmodernity. Thus, given the
theoretical overview provided and the analysis conducted on the Nike+ community and The Lost
Experience, the researchers will generalise to theoretical propositions and concepts. Consequently,
the authors of this thesis will propose their own definition of social media and social media
marketing, as well as explore its connections with the main postmodern conditions (Firat &
Venkatesh, 1995).
RQ3): What recommendations can be given to organisations which aim to use social media
marketing in postmodernity?
The findings generated from the two former research questions will be used to build a number of
recommendations for organisations which aim to employ social media as a marketing tool in the
postmodern era.
RQ4): How can theoretical and empirical findings of the thesis can be applied to a real life case of
Aarhus School of Business?
In the last part of this thesis, the researchers will apply their findings to a real case study. Thus, the
social media strategy of Aarhus School of Business (ASB) will be analysed in order to provide
some suggestions for the organization, based on the recommendations defined in the previous
section of the study. This will contribute to assess the transferability of the findings in this thesis.
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1. METHODOLOGY
1.1. Scientific paradigm: Social Constructivism
As Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill (2005) point out, it is essential to determine how the social world
that is about to be investigated is perceived by the authors of the thesis, so as to choose a pertinent
scientific paradigm that will guide the investigation of the phenomenon of study. In choosing a
scientific paradigm for a conduction of the research, three elements need to be determined:
1) “Ontology: What is the nature of the “knowable”? Or, what is the nature of
‘reality’?
2) Epistemology: What is the nature of the relationship between the knower (the
inquirer) and the known (or knowable)?
3) Methodology: How should the inquirer go about finding out knowledge?”
(Guba, 1990, p. 18)
The authors of the present thesis adhered to an interpretive worldview, since they attempted to
actively engage in the world of three different cases of study before going to interpret them. Table 1
displays the characteristics of the interpretive worldview.
Table 1: The Characteristics of the interpretive worldview
Interpretivism
Ontology: the researchers’
view of the nature of
reality or being.
Epistemology: the
researchers’ view of what
constitutes acceptable
knowledge.
Data collection
techniques more often
used.
Socially constructed,
subjective, may change,
multiple.
Subjective meanings and
social phenomena. Focus upon
the details of situation, a
reality behind these details,
subjective meanings,
motivating actions.
Small samples, in-depth
investigations, qualitative.
Source: adapted from Saunders et al. (2005, p. 19)
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According to Daymon & Holloway (2002), interpretive researches adhere to social constructivism.
As opposed to positivists, constructivist researchers do not consider that science can discover “how
things ‘really’ are” (Guba, 1990, p. 25) or “how things ‘really’ work” (Guba, 1990, p. 25), because
there is no one single resolution to these questions. Instead, constructivists believe that knowledge
is constructed by the researchers (Guba, 1990). For constructivists, “realities exist in the form of
multiple mental constructions, socially and experimentally based, local and specific, dependent for
their form and content on the person who holds them” (Guba, 1990, p. 27) and, therefore, “many
constructions are possible” (Guba, 1990, p. 25).
It is the authors’ conviction that this thesis draws on the constructivist paradigm, since the
researchers have attempted to “reconstruct” the phenomenon of a study in the present paper.
Furthermore, the researchers believe that the phenomenon of a study can be interpreted in different
manners, and therefore many interpretations could co-exist simultaneously.
In order to understand the subjective nature of social reality, interpretive researchers normally
employ qualitative research methods. According to Daymon & Holloway (2002), the main features
of qualitative research are the following:

Qualitative research is associated with words, as opposed to quantitative research, which
focuses more on numbers.

There is a close involvement of the researcher with the context under investigation.

Researchers are interested in studying participant’s viewpoints: “people’s intentions,
motivations, and subjective experiences”, as they attempted to “understand social reality
from the point of view of those in it” (Daymon & Holloway, 2002, p. 4).

Qualitative research is linked to small-scale studies, since the researches normally require a
deep and detailed description of the phenomenon under investigation.

The focus of qualitative researchers is holistic. A complete picture of a phenomenon is
sought, instead of the study of one or two isolated variables.
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
Qualitative research tends to be less structured than quantitative research. Consequently, the
research process is more adaptable, flexible, and open to study new variables that may
emerge during the course of the investigation.
Questions that concern qualitative researches are, for example: “what’s going on here?”, “what
communicative action is being performed?”, “how do they do it?” (Daymon & Holloway, 2002, p.
14). Since this study attempts to investigate how companies are using social media in
postmodernity, the present research demands a qualitative approach. A more detailed description of
the research orientation (case study) and the various methods applied are presented in the following
sections.
1.1.1. Research Approach
Another methodological aspect that needs to be considered is how the particular research will be
designed.
The researchers of the present study work inductively by gathering data and then analysing and
reflecting upon the theoretical themes that the data are suggesting (Saunders et al., 2005).
According to Saunders et al. (2005), induction approaches to research emphasise (p. 128):




“Gaining an understanding of the meaning humans attach to events.
A close understanding of the research context.
The collection of qualitative data.
A more flexible structure to permit changes of research emphasis as research
progresses.
 A realisation that the researcher is part of the research process.
 Less concern with the need to generalise.”
(Saunders et al., 2005, p.128)
As Daymon & Holloway (2002) indicate, “qualitative research tends to start with inductive
reasoning and then, through sequential process, employs deduction reasoning” (p. 6). Thus, the
researchers of the present study first gathered and analysed the data collected in order to identify
general patters. Then, they moved from inductive to deductive reasoning by applying their findings
to a real case study.
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1.1.2. Research Methodology
The present research is conceived as an exploratory study. According to Robson (2002), an
exploratory study attempts to investigate “what is happening; to seek new insights, to ask questions
and to assess phenomena in a new light” (p. 59). Exploratory research must be flexible enough to be
able to change the direction of the investigation in case some new data demands it (Saunders et al.,
2005). However, as Saunders et al. (2005) point out, “the flexibility inherit in exploratory research
does not mean absence of direction to the enquire” (p. 140).
The authors of this thesis opted for conducting a collective or multiple case studies for the
investigation. According to Daymon & Holloway (2002),
“a case study is an intensive examination, using multiple sources of evidence (which
may be qualitative, quantitative or both), of a single entity which is bounded by time
and place. Usually it is associated with a location. The 'case' may be an organization, a
set of people such as a social or work group, a community, an event, a process, an issue
or a campaign” (p. 105).
According to Daymon & Holloway (2002), it is very important to define the boundaries of the
investigation, since case studies are bounded by time and place.
A total of three cases were analysed for the purpose of this investigation. As Daymon & Holloway
(2002) point out, it is not recommendable to choose more than four cases “because the larger the
number, the more the benefits of the case study approach will be diminished” (p. 108).
1.1.2.1.Cases 1 and 2: Nike+ community and The Lost Experience
The first two case studies, presented in the Chapter 3, are analysed in order to answer the first
research question of this thesis: How are companies using social media to direct their messages to
postmodern consumers?
Sample selection
According to Daymon & Holloway (2002) point out, the use of two or more cases enables some
measure of generalization to a wider universe. Thus, the present paper describes and discusses two
social media marketing strategies carried out by two different organisations:
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1) The Nike+ community: an online community created by Nike Inc., a sportswear and
equipment company based in the U.S. The Nike+ community was created in 2006 in order
to promote Nike+ a new range of products launched by the organisation, as well as engage
consumers with the brand.
2) The Lost Experience: an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) conducted by the American
television network ABC, in a partnership with Channel 4 (UK) and Channel 7 (Australia), in
order to promote its television series Lost. The Lost Experience campaigned was launched
by the networks in order to engage the audience during the break between the second and
the third season of the show.
Criteria for selecting the cases
The two cases were selected for the following reasons:

A number of different authors (Maymann, 2008; McClusky, 2009; Ramaswamy, 2008) and
media have considered the Nike+ community and The Lost Experience campaign two good
examples of how companies can use social media to engage consumers. Although Nike and
ABC operate in two different industries, the two cases were selected as examples of how
companies can use social media as a marketing tool. Thus, it is important to keep in mind
that the goal of this research is not to compare them, but to analyse the use of social media
that two big corporations have undertaken.

The global scope of the initiatives: Although Nike Inc. and ABC are based in the US, their
products are distributed and consumed internationally. The analysed marketing initiatives
were Internet-based and designed for English speakers, which makes them particularly
exportable to any country. Thus, The Lost Experience was launched by ABC in
collaboration with Channel 4 (UK) and Channel 7 (Australia), and the Nike+ community
gathers members from more than 160 different countries (Nike, 2007).

Their intrinsic value: According to Stake (1995), the fact that a case is interesting itself is
also a rationale for selection. The Nike+ community and The Lost Experience are genuine
and original social media marketing initiatives. First, the Nike+ community revolutionised
the running experience of consumers by combining music, personal coaching and
networking. Second, as an Alternate Reality Game, The Lost Experience was an unusual
Internet-based marketing initiative and an exceptionally large cross-media endeavour.
17
Data collection
Documentary sources
Documentation was the main technique employed for collecting data about the Nike+ community
and The Lost Experience. Thus, the authors of this thesis corroborated evidence from different
documentary sources in order to shed light on the cases. As Daymon & Holloway (2002) point out,
“documents consist of words and images that have been recorded without the intervention of a
researcher. They are in written, printed, sound, visual and digital forms” (p. 216):
1) In the case of the Nike+ community, the gathered documents helped the researchers to
describe the social media marketing strategy followed to create an online community for
Nike consumers. The documents employed provided insight into the Nike+ community as
marketing initiative, which was started by the organisation in 2006 and lasts until the
present3.
2) The documents collected for The Lost Experience case helped the researches to track down
the social media marketing campaign The Lost Experience, which started in May 2006 and
lasted until September 2006.
In both cases, a wide variety of written, sound, visual, audiovisual and digital documents was
employed. The main documentary sources used in the two case studies comprise: newspaper and
magazine articles; corporate press releases; text and images from websites; text from Web 2.0
applications (such as Last.fm, Facebook or Twitter); blogs, podcasts, white papers, e-books, videos
and TV commercials.
On the other hand, it is important to mention that the authors of this thesis attempted unsuccessfully
to arrange an interview with the Marketing and PR Department at Nike Inc. in order to have a
deeper insight into the Nike+ community case. Overall the researches of this study were satisfied
with the amount and quality of the data collected about the Nike+ community and The Lost
Experience campaign. Nevertheless, it is the researchers’ believe that the Nike+ community is a
complex phenomenon, whose understanding would have been more complete with the conduction
of an interview with the organisation. Appendix 1 shows the questions that the researchers had
prepared for their possible interview with Nike Inc.
3
November, 2009.
18
Criteria for selecting the sources
The documentary sources employed in this research have been selected according to their (1)
authenticity, (2) credibility, (3) meaning and (4) representativeness (Daymon & Holloway, 2002).
(1) Credibility: The authors of the present research only employed documentary sources which
were “free from error or distortion” (Daymon & Holloway, 2002, p. 219). Due to the fact that the
analysed case studies were social media initiatives, Internet-based based research was the main
technique followed to gather the documentary sources. Thus, during the course of their
investigation, the researchers encountered information about the cases in user-generated document,
such as blogs and Lost or Nike fan sites. The researches ruled out such sources, and only employed
credible and solid references.
Thus, the authorship of the documentary sources was crucial to consider them to be credible.
Therefore, the main sources employed were:

Documents produced by the organisations responsible for the marketing initiatives
analysed, such as Nike Inc, ABC, Channel 4, or the media and digital agencies
employed for the initiatives (R/GA, Hi-Res!), which include corporate press releases,
electronic text retrieved from websites, videos, and podcasts.

Several articles, interviews, and videos published in the media, such as Business
Week, The New York Times, The Washington Post, or Entertainment Weekly.

White papers and articles published by different non-for-profit organisations such as
the IGDA (International Game Developers Association) and The Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences.

Personal blogs and user-generated content was employed as a documentary source
only whether consumers’ opinions wanted to be illustrated.
(2) Authenticity: As Daymon & Holloway (2002) point out, authenticity “refers to a document that
is genuine, complete, reliable and of unquestioned authorship” (p. 219). In order to validate the
authenticity of the documentary sources employed, the researchers always attempted to retrieve the
documents from corporate official websites. Whether the documents employed were not available
on websites created by the organisations involved in the project, data triangulation was employed.
Thus, the authorship and the credibility of the documents were always corroborated by contrasting
different sources. Data triangulation is a way to confirm data in which researchers “use multiple
data sources, such as collecting data from different groups, settings or at different times” (Daymon
19
& Holloway, 2002, p. 99). The researchers of this study conducted data triangulation in order to
validate the information collected. Thus, different sources were contrasted in order to gather all the
necessary data for reconstructing the cases. For instance, in the case of The Lost Experience some
audiovisual documents, such as TV commercials or video-podcasts, were only available on
YouTube4. In order to verify the authenticity of the videos, the researchers sought for solid
references (such as corporate press releases, or an interview with the creators of the show published
in the media) which corroborated its authenticity and prove that those videos were produced for the
campaign. Thus, a number of documents which did not meet the criteria could not have been
employed, and, therefore, certain secondary actions undertaken by ABC and its partner during The
Lost Experience campaign could not be described in this paper due to the lack of credibility of the
sources.
(3) Meaning: It is important to consider the context in which documents were produced in order to
interpret them correctly (Daymon & Holloway, 2002). The researchers were cautious in following
the criteria described above, since the documentary materials were used as primary sources for his
study and not for supplementary purposes. Thus, by cross-checking and triangulating the data, the
researchers also attempt to reinforce the validity of the analysis when interpreting the information.
(4) Representativeness: Finally, as to Daymon & Holloway (2002) state, it is also important to
keep in mind the representativeness of the data employed, since “some of the documents may have
been lost or destroyed, and others may exist but you may have no access to them” (p. 220).
Therefore, throughout the present study the researchers of have indicated any gap and limitations
encountered during the course of their investigation.
Data analysis
As mentioned previously, a qualitative analysis was conducted on two case studies of the
companies, which have used social media for marketing purposes.
Thus, Chapter 3 provides the description of the cases constructed. First, each case comprises a brief
introduction on the previous social media initiatives that both companies had carried out before the
Nike+ community and The Lost Experience were implemented, in order to contextualise and
enlighten the reader on the actions that preceded the cases. Second, the main aspects of the
4
YouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos (www.youtube.com).
20
marketing initiatives, as well as most relevant actions carried out by the companies in relation with
them are described. Then, the results and consequences of the initiatives are summarised at the end
of each case study.
The first part of Chapter 4 discusses the use of social media in the Nike+ community and The Lost
Experience in relation with the literature on social media marketing reviewed in Chapter 2, as well
as according to the main conditions of postmodernity highlighted by Firat & Venkatesh (1995).
Then, given the theoretical overview provided and the analysis conducted on the two cases, the
researchers attempt to extend the literature on social media marketing by proposing a theoretical
foundation for the relationship between social media marketing and postmodernity. Finally, the
findings generated are employed to create a number of recommendations for organisations which
aim to employ social media as a marketing tool in the postmodern era.
1.1.2.2. Case 3: Aarhus School of Business (ASB)
In the last part of the discussion, the researchers applied their findings to a real case study.
Consequently, the social media strategy of Aarhus School of Business (ASB) was analysed in order
to answer the fourth research question of this study: How can theoretical and empirical findings of
the thesis can be applied to a real life case of Aarhus School of Business?
Thus, the authors of this thesis provide the educational institution with some suggestions, based on
the recommendations defined in the previous section of the study.
Sample selection
ASB is an academic institution based in the city of Aarhus, Denmark. Founded in 1939, the
Business school became a part of the University of Aarhus on January 2007. ASB confers both
undergraduate and graduate degrees in a wide range of topics, such as Business Administration,
Finance, Marketing, Economics, and Corporate Communication.
Criteria for selecting the cases
As master students at ASB, the authors of this thesis opted for analysing the Business school’s
social media strategy due to their proximity to the organisation. Thus, the researchers attempted to
apply their findings to a ‘real case’ and, therefore, increase the contribution of their study. As
21
Daymon & Holloway (2002) point out, “that a particular context is convenient or accessible can
make it an attractive setting to study” (p. 109). Since the authors of the thesis are not comparing
how social media marketing can be used for different kind of organisations the findings of this
study can be also applied to Aarhus School of Business, which is a non-profit educational
institution.
Data collection
Documentation was also employed in order to collect the necessary data for conducting the third
case study of this thesis. Nevertheless, an interview with Nikolaj Høncke Keldorff, project manager
at ASB Media (IT Department) was the technique employed to collect the primary data for the case
study.
Consequently, the present study has employed a multi-method approach to data collection, since
more than one technique has been used in order to gather data. Specifically, documentary sources
and interviews have been the two techniques employed.
Interview
As Daymon & Holloway (2002) point out, one of the advantages of interviews is that they allow
researchers to gather data within “their own social context” (p. 167). The authors of this research
opted for conducting an interview in order to collect information about ASB’s social media
strategy, which was only “internal” to the organisation and not accessible for the public in any other
way.
Thus, a one-to-one interview was arranged with Nikolaj Høncke Keldorff, project manager at ASB
Media (IT Department), which was conducted face-to-face. As it is common in qualitative studies,
the researchers employed a semi-structured interview because of the flexibility that it provides
(Daymon & Holloway, 2002). The questions, which were contained in an interview guide, could be
mainly classified as experience and knowledge questions (Daymon & Holloway, 2002). For
example:

Experience questions
Do you choose social media application usually according to a stakeholder group you want
to reach?
22
What kind of user you have in mind when getting involved with social media?

Knowledge questions
What kind of challenges the social media platform brigs to the school? How the school deals
with that?
Does ASB have an official strategy for social media?
The interview, which lasted 55 min 29s, was tape-recorded and transcribed by the researchers.
Daymon & Holloway (2002) recommend researchers to transcribe their tapes, since this allows
them to submerge “in the data and become sensitive to the issues of importance” (p. 179).
Documentary sources
The data collected from the interview with Nikolaj Keldorff was complemented with information
retrieved from the official website of ASB (http://www.asb.dk), as well as corporate brochures
produced by the school. Additionally, information collected from social media applications, such as
Facebook, in which ASB is present was also employed as secondary data.
Data analysis
The social media strategy of ASB was analysed in order to provide some recommendations to the
school, based on the previous findings of this study.
It is important to emphasise that, as students at ASB, the authors of this thesis are aware of their
possible bias, which could affect the reliability of their conclusions. As qualitative researchers, the
authors of this thesis recognise their own subjectivity, and agree with Daymon & Holloway (2002)
on the fact that objectivity and neutrality “are impossible to achieve” (2002, p. 89). Nevertheless,
the researchers attempted to approach the subject of study from the perspective of an outsider, in
order to ensure the validity of this thesis.
Figure 1 summarises the methodology followed in the present study.
Figure 1: The use of methodology in the case of ASB
23
Scientific paradigm
Social Constructivism
Data application
‐ Case study of ASB
‐ Deductive Research Approach
Inductive
Data collection techniques
Research Methodology
‐ Documentation
Qualitative ‐ Interview
Case Studies
1.2. Thesis Structure
This thesis can be divided into five main parts: Introduction; (1) Methodology; (2) Literature
review; (3) Analysis; (4) Discussion; and Conclusion (see Figure 2).
The first section, Introduction, presents the formulation of the problem statement that encouraged
the authors to conduct this research.
The present section, called Methodology, consists of the following:

The methodology applied, which contains the choice of research philosophy, as well as an
explanation of the research strategy and the research approaches undertaken.

The description of the thesis structure.
24

The delimitations that the authors encountered, and which are important to keep in mind
while reading this paper.
The following chapters illustrate the different stages that were undertaken during the course of the
research conducted, before arriving to the final findings and conclusions. Thus, the literature review
provided in Chapter 2 presents the main theories and relevant texts that were considered in order to
develop an understanding of the nature and structure of study. The literature review of this paper
includes the main classical and foundational work on postmodern marketing and social media
marketing.
Chapter 3 presents the two first case studies: the Nike+ community and The Lost Experience. The
cases are analysed as it has been described in section 1.1.2. Research Methodology. Thus, in each
case the documentary sources gathered during this investigation will be put together in order to
provide: (1) a short introduction on some of the social media marketing initiatives previously
carried out by the company under discussion; (2) a general description of the actions carried out in
each initiative, as well as its main characteristics; and (3) relevant information on the success of the
marketing initiative.
Chapter 4 consists of the discussion of all the theoretical and empirical findings discovered in
Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, and the application of them to a “real” case. Consequently, the chapter is
based on the findings derived from the former chapters: (1) the empirical discussion of the cases of
Nike+ and The Lost Experience campaign in the context of the postmodern era; (2) the combination
of the findings gathered from the case studies and the theories of postmodern marketing and social
media; (3) the recommendations how to use social media marketing to communicate with
postmodern consumers; and (4) the application of previously provided recommendations to a case
of Aarhus School of Business.
Finally, the last part of this study, called Conclusion, summarises the contribution of this paper to
knowledge and practice, restates its findings, and propose some recommendations for further
research.
25
Figure 2: Thesis structure
Introduction
Problem statement
Methodology
Thesis structure
Delimitations
Case studies
Nike+ community
The Lost Experience
Literature review
Postmodern marketing
Social media marketing
RQ1
Discussion of the
case studies
RQ2
Theoretical
foundation
Discussion
RQ3
Recommendations
RQ4
Case study: ASB
Conclusion
Summary, Findings
and Reflections
26
1.3. Literature and Theoretical Application
The literature review in this thesis can be divided according to the two main subjects of study:
postmodern marketing and social media marketing.
Thus, the first part of the literature review presents an introduction to postmodernity based on the
work of Firat & Venkatesh (1993; 1995), and Giddens (1991). It is important to emphasise the
relevance of the five postmodern conditions, provided by Firat & Venkatesh, for the purpose of this
thesis. The conditions, presented in their article Liberatory Postmodernism and the Reenchantment
of Consumption (1995), has been employed throughout this investigation in order to conduct the
analysis of the two case studies, as well as generalise to theoretical propositions and concepts.
Additionally, Cova (1996; 1997; 1999; Cova & Cova 2002) and Brown (1993; 1999a; 1999b), have
been the primary authors employed to describe the implications of postmodernity to marketing.
Cova’s theories (1996; 1997; 1999; Cova & Cova 2002) have provided an insight into the
communal aspect of postmodern marketing and enlightened the researchers on important concepts,
such as tribal marketing and linking value.
Furthermore, the work of Simmons (2008), Firat & Dholakia (2006) as well as Protect & Kitchen
(2002) have been included to provide an extended view of postmodern marketing and explain the
main concepts associated with this approach to the discipline.
On the subject of social media marketing, Jaokar et al. (2009), Weber (2007), Gillin (2007; 2008),
Mangfold & Faulds (2009), and Scott (2007) have been the main authors used to describe the
concepts of social media and social media marketing, as well as their main characteristics.
Moreover, writings and studies by selected authors have been used to describe the most common
social media marketing strategies. Thus, the work of Kent (2008), Retterberg (2008), Weil (2006)
and Demopoulos (2006) have been applied to explain corporate blogging; the work of Sicilia &
Palazón (2008) have contributed to illustrate the phenomenon of virtual communities; Percival
(2008), and Holzner (2009) have been included to provide an overview on MySpace marketing and
Facebook marketing; and the work of authors, such as Karpinski (2009), or Carter (2009), has been
used to explain the use of Twitter for marketing purposes. Furthermore, Grönroos (1994; 1996;
27
1997; 2007) was employed in order to explore the similarities between social media marketing and
relationship marketing.
Finally, it is important to emphasise that less orthodox text and studies, such as e-books and
whitepapers, have been employed in order to supplement the literature review on the topic of social
media, such as the work of Maymann (2007), iCrossing (2007) and Wilson (2000).
1.4. Limitations
There are some limitations of the present study that should be considered.
First, it is important to bear in mind that the findings and recommendations for companies presented
in this study are based on the analysis of two case studies. The problem of generalisation is
common in qualitative studies, which “are not supposed to be representative of a larger population,
yet a common challenge is that they are too restricted in their conclusions” (Daymon & Holloway,
2002, p. 7).
Similarly, the theoretical generalisation conducted and the generated theory are only based on the
analysis undertaken on the Nike+ community and The Lost Experience. Therefore, further research,
such as an approach of grounded theory, could help to build solider propositions and theoretical
foundation in social media marketing from a postmodern perspective.
Third, this study presents a reconstruction of the Nike+ community and The Lost Experience
campaign as it was perceived by the researchers. Thus, as it is normal in case studies, the authors of
this research described certain aspects about the cases analysed and omitted others (Daymon &
Holloway, 2002). Additionally, since the primary data collected for constructing the two cases came
from documentary sources, there could be gaps in the narrative of the cases due to the existence of
unknown information for the researchers (Daymon & Holloway, 2002). Thus, during the course of
their investigation the researches could have failed to spot certain documentary sources, or simply
not have access to them.
Fourth, as it was mentioned previously, the researchers did not manage to conduct an interview with
the Marketing and PR Department at Nike Inc. Although the information gathered through the
28
process of documentation was adequate, the interview would have supplemented the data collected
and reinforced the findings of this thesis.
Finally, as the students of Aarhus School of Business, this study is subject to the bias of its authors
who could be reflected on the analysis and the recommendations based on the social media strategy
of ASB. Despite the fact that the researchers tried to distant themselves and be as neutral as
possible, as stated by Daymon & Holloway (2002), the possibility to be bias still remains.
29
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Postmodern marketing
“...many marketers might be tempted to dismiss the whole postmodern project as an
unnecessary distraction, a passing intellectual fad. While such sentiments are
understandable, they overlook two important facts. First, marketing and postmodernism
are already tightly interwoven. ... Second, just as postmodernism has often been described
as a crisis of representation, ... so too many commentators on the current marketing scene
contend that our discipline is in the throes if a very serious intellectual crisis.” (Brown,
1999a, p. 27-28)
As Brown states, the marketing discipline is highly influenced by postmodernity. This first
section of the literature review provides a theoretical background for understanding the
postmodern era and its implications for marketing communications.
2.1.1. Short introduction to postmodernity
Postmodernity evolved as a criticism of modernity5 (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995; Brown, 1999a).
According to The Oxford English Dictionary (2008) postmodernism can be defined as:
“The state, condition, or period of subsequent to that which is modern; spec. In
architecture, the arts, the literature, politics, etc., any of various styles, concepts, or
points of view involving a conscious departure from modernism, esp. When
characterised by a rejection of ideology and theory in favour of a plurality of values
and techniques. Also in extended use in general contexts, freq. used ironically” (Oxford
Dictionaries, 2008).
5
The modern era started in the XVI-XVII century and lasted until the end of XX century (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995).
30
As Cova (1996) points out, some scholars and managers refuse to take postmodern conditions in to
account, due to its complexity or abstractness. As Hudson (1988) states, sometimes authors refer to
postmodernity as a myth because:

There is no “universal framework for evaluation” (p. 187).

Postmodern era sometimes forgets “natural as well as logical necessity” (p. 188).

Some authors even claim that it is “technically improper” (p. 188).
Nevertheless, just as an American consultant James Ogilvy, “Postmodernism is too important to be
left to French philosophers alone” (in Cova, 1996, p. 494).
Rather than postmodernity, British sociologist Giddens (1991) prefers the term late or high
modernity, as he claims that society still lives in a modern era: “the phenomena that some have
dubbed ‘postmodern’ are, in Giddens’ terms, usually just the more extreme instances of a fully
developed modernity” (Gauntlett, 2002). According to Giddens (1991), modernity is the
“equivalent to ‘the industrialised world’ ... I take industrialism to refer to the social
relations implied in the widespread use of material power and machinery in production
process. ... A second dimension is capitalism ... a system of commodity production
involving both competitive product markets and the commodification of labour power”
(Giddens, 1991, p. 15).
The postmodern era has had an effect on almost every aspect of intellectual life, from architecture
and arts to theology and economics (Brown, 1993; 1999a). Postmodernists believe that:

Culture has a huge influence on reality, which is not just “the product of science and
technology” (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995, p. 240), and it is not always based on reason (Firat
& Venkatesh, 1995).

Science and technology are not able to provide a solution for all the problems that humanity
has to face. As Firat & Venkatesh (1995) state, science has not been able to establish ethical
order or rationality. According to them, the promise made by modernist that science would
save the society is simply not feasible.

Reality is not that simple and the categories that were established by modernists do not fit it.
The world cannot be decreased to “simple dichotomous categories: subject/object,
male/female, producer/consumer, culture/nature, signified/signifier, Occident/Orient” (Firat
& Venkatesh, 1995, p. 240). Postmodernists avoid comparing or establishing oppositions.
31
Postmodern human beings have many identities or ‘faces’, which are constantly changing
(Gergen, 1995).

Consumers do not have to obey the rational order of the universe, which was so endorsed by
modernists, and they can construct their own reality throughout consumption (Firat &
Venkatesh, 1995). According to Proctor & Kitchen (2002), hyperreality is the most
common characteristic of postmodernity, which allows postmodern human beings to
experience a “simulated reality” (p. 147) and construct their own past, present or future.
Consumption is also a production or “value-producing activity” (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995,
p. 242) (See section 2.1.3.).

According to Giddens (1991), social life in postmodernity can be described by three
aspects: (1) separation of time and space, (2) disembedding mechanisms, and (3)
institutional reflexivity Table 2 describes each of these three elements.
Firat & Venkatesh (1995) state that postmodernity is inseparable from consumption and
marketing communications, and list the main conditions of postmodern consumption (see Table
3). Fragmentation, doubt and denial of universal truth, together with the juxtaposition of the
opposites are the main characteristics of postmodernity (Cova, 1996; Christensen, Torp, & Firat,
2005). According to Cova (1996), postmodern societies are highly fragmented because human
beings are highly individualistic and attempt to differentiate themselves from others through
consumption. At the same time, postmodern individuals seek affiliation with like-minded people
in a “desperate search for social links” (Cova, 1996, p. 495) who share the same or similar “life
styles, new moral beliefs and new consumption practices” (Cova, 1996, p. 495).
32
Table 2: Three aspects of postmodern6 social life
Separation of time and space
Disembedding mechanisms:
Institutional reflexivity
“The condition for the
“Consist of symbolic tokens and “The regularised use of
articulation of social relations
expert systems (these together =
knowledge about circumstances
across wide spans of time-
abstract systems).
of social life as a constitutive
space, up to and including
Disembedding mechanisms
element in its organisation and
global systems” (p. 20).
separate interaction from the
transformation” (p. 20).
particularities of locales” (p. 20)
“Modern social organisation
“Symbolic tokens are media of
“Reflexivity ... undermines the
presumes the precise
exchange which have standard
certainty of knowledge, even in
coordination of the actions of
value, and thus are
the core domains of natural
many human beings
interchangeable across a
science. Science depends, not
physically absent from one
plurality of contents. The prime
on the inductive accumulation
another; the ‘when’ of these
example, and the most
of proofs, but on the
actions is directly connected
pervasively important, is
methodological principle of
to the ‘where’, but not, as in
money”. (p. 18)
doubt”. “A scientific is open to
pre-modern epochs, via
mediation of place” (p. 17).
“Expert systems are deploying
revision” (p. 21).
modes of technical knowledge
which have validity
independent of the practitioners
and clients who make use of
them” (p. 18).
Source: Taken and adjusted from (Giddens, 1991, p. 20)
6
Originally in the text , Giddens use the term “modern”.
33
Table 3: Postmodern conditions and their main themes Source: Taken from (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995, p. 252)
Hyperreality
Fragmentation
Reversal of production and
consumption
Decentred subject
Juxtaposition of opposites
Reality as part of symbolic world
and constructed rather than given.
Consumption experiences
multiple, disjointed.
are
Postmodernism is basically a
culture of consumption, while
modernism represents a culture of
production.
The following modernist notions of the
subject are called into question:
Pastiche as the underlying
principle of juxtaposition.
Signifier/Signified
(structure)
replaced by the notion of endless
signifiers.
Human subject has a divided self.
Abandonment of the notion that
production creates value while
consumption destroys it.
Human subject as a self –knowing,
independent agent.
Consumption experiences are
not meant to reconcile
differences and paradoxes but
to allow them to exist freely.
The emergence of symbolic and the
spectacles as the basis of reality.
Terms such as “authentic self”
and “centred connections” are
questionable.
Sign value replaces exchange value
as the basis of consumption.
Human subject
subject.
Acknowledges
that
fragmentation, rather than
unification, is the basis of
consumption.
The idea that marketing is
constantly involved in the creation
of more real than real.
Lack of commitment to any
(central) theme.
Consumer paradox:
Human subject as a unified subject.
The blurring of the distinction
between real and non-real.
Abandonment of history origin,
and context.
Consumers are active producers
of symbols and signs if
consumption, as marketers are.
Marketing is an activity that
fragments consumption signs and
environments and reconfigures
them through style and fashion.
Consumers are also objects in the
marketing
process,
while
products become active agents.
Fragmentation as the basis for
creation of body culture.
Postmodernist
subject:
as
notions
a
of
cognitive
human
Human subject is historically and
culturally constructed.
Language, not cognition, is the basis
for subjectivity.
Instead of a cognitive subject, we have
a communicative subject.
Authentic self is displaced by made-up
self.
Rejection of modernist subject as a
male subject.
34
2.1.2. Why does traditional marketing not work anymore?
According to The American Marketing Association, “marketing is the activity, set of institutions,
and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for
customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (American Marketing Association, 2007). This
definition, which is often cited as an example of the traditional approach to the discipline,
compresses the essence of the traditional 4P’s of the marketing mix (price, place, product, and
promotion)7. This traditional approach has dominated the practice and theory of marketing for
decades (Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, & Wong, 2008; Grönroos, 1994; Hougaard & Bjerre, 2003;
Brown, 1999b), and has been viewed as the “economic exchange framework” (Firat & Dholakia,
2006, p. 125) between a company and its customers.
Nonetheless, over the past few years a number of authors, such as Hougaard & Bjerre (2003),
Grönroos (2007), Harwood, Garry, & Broderick (2008), Brown & Hayes (2008), Brown (1993),
have stated that the traditional 4P’s of the marketing mix no longer completely fulfil the needs and
obligations of the discipline. In today’s world, organisations face a number of challenges that make
it necessary to think about marketing in a different way (Grönroos, 2007). Some of the aspects that
are changing marketers’ point of view to marketing are the result of postmodernity will be explored
further in this section.
Organisations need to stay open to the environment in which they operate. Thus, the attempt to
centralize marketing and communication (contact management8) can cause disturbance, since it
does not allow flexibility, it is not time efficient, and it increases bureaucracy in the organisation
(Christensen, Firat, & Torp, 2008). Postmodern conditions imply that the environment is turbulent,
and they require organisations to be creative, fast, flexible and very open to changes (Christensen et
al., 2008). Even though integration and some certain amount of control is required for the normal
existence of organisations, Christensen et al. (2005; 2008) state that sometimes the environment is
simply too complex to reach that.
7
The marketing mix is “the set of controllable marketing tools (product, price, place and promotion) that the firm
blends to produce the response it wants in the target market” (Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, & Wong, 2008, p. 49).
8
The need to control every possible communication channel in which a consumer may have contact with a brand
directly (Duncan, 2005).
35
Consumers are constantly attacked with countless promotional messages in various communication
channels every day. Therefore, it is important that an organisation sends aligned messages to its
target audience and ‘speaks with one voice’. This can facilitate a better perception of a company’s
communication, and make marketing messages more effective and consistent (Pelsmacker, Geuens,
& Bergh, 2007; Kitchen, Brignell, Jones, & Li, 2004; Duncan, 2005). The main difficulty is that
any organisation in the 21st century has multiple complex stakeholder groups, which are related to
each other and whose members may belong to more than one group. According to Pelsmacker et al.
(2007) a company does not need to convey identical messages to every stakeholder group, but
messages have to be adjusted to their expectations or wants. They also point out that the messages
have to be aligned with the corporate mission and identity, which should “provide a mechanism for
identifying and avoiding message conflicts when communicating with these overlapping and
complex target groups” (Pelsmacker et al., 2007, p. 26).
On the other hand, postmodern customers are free of the supplier dictate. Since they are bombarded
by thousands of consumer choices every day, suppliers cannot ‘force’ them into buying their
products or services (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). It has become difficult to understand or predict
consumers’ buyer behaviour, since they are not sure about their consumption wishes and desires,
but only about their aversions and dislikes (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). Organisations focusing on
the average consumers (or applying traditional market mass segmentation and positioning) would
miss the opportunity to meet the needs of postmodern individuals who are not stable, whose notions
and lifestyles are frequently shifting. Thus, the assembly of all controversial wishes, ideas and
concerns of a postmodern consumer into one integrated approach (suggested, for instance, by
integrated marketing communication theories) can substantially reduce the attractiveness of a firm’s
proposal (Christensen et al., 2005; Addis & Podesta, 2005).
According to Firat & Dholakia (2006), hyperreality is one of the issues that traditional marketing
has to face. In the postmodern era reality is something what is commonly constructed and shared,
but not universal (Firat & Dholakia, 2006; Firat & Venkatesh, 1995). The role of traditional
marketing “is simply to liberate or realize the needs” (Firat & Dholakia, 2006, p. 136) of
consumers. However, postmodern conditions are shaping the power balance between consumers
and companies. According to Firat & Dholakia (2006), they became more like partners in the
process of needs and meanings creation, thus, instead of striving for consumer satisfaction,
organisations should switch their focus to empowerment.
36
Postmodern individuals’ lifestyle is highly fragmentized, and consumers usually hold different roles
in the society which may contradict each other (Arnould, Price, & Zinkhan, 2005) (e.g. a serious
businessman becomes a biker after work). Thus, human beings live in constant doubt and
uncertainty; their life is full of conflicting ideas; and it impossible to forecast what their next steps
would be (Christensen et al., 2005; Brown, 1993; Cova, 1996). Postmodernity has brought a higher
level of consumer involvement with a brand, since they independently create and reshape the
original meaning of a product or service (Cova, 1996; Firat & Dholakia, 2006). On the contrary to
what it is imposed by the traditional marketing, professionals should not try to enforce the control
of the meaning of the messages they sent to consumers about their brands or companies
(Christensen et al., 2005).
Marketers have always viewed the act of purchasing as the final activity in the economic exchange
between companies and their customers (Arnould et al., 2005; Firat & Dholakia, 2006; Firat &
Venkatesh, 1995; Brown & Hayes, 2008). For instance, Brown & Hayes (2008) claim that “the
marketing mix has traditionally focused on preparing prospective customers (through awareness,
familiarity, comfort and knowledge) for their walk down the Sales Avenue” (p. 140). This brings
another challenge to traditional marketing because consumption is viewed as continuous “process
of transforming the product from the very moment that a consumer takes possession of the product”
(Firat & Dholakia, 2006, p. 138). Thus, companies have to involve their consumers into product
development and make them contributors to the production process (Firat & Dholakia, 2006; Firat
& Venkatesh, 1995) (see more in section 2.1.3.).
Overall, the marketing specialists have to switch their focus from short-term profits to relationship
marketing, from mass communication to more specialised communication for a narrower target of
audiences (Pelsmacker et al., 2007). According to Pelsmacker et al. (2007), customers’ seduction
times are over, and now companies should focus on earning their loyalty and building relationships
with them (see section 2.3.3.3.).
2.1.3. Implications of postmodernity to marketing
The postmodern approach has shifted managers’ and academicians’ views about marketing and
management theories (Cova, 1996). First, postmodernity has brought companies new marketing and
37
communication challenges, and consequently organisations have had to adjust themselves to these
new circumstances. According to Simmons (2008), marketing is trapped between four conditions
(the 4 C’s) of postmodernity: change, complexity, chaos, and contradiction. Second, the postmodern
individual is not committed to brands, a single lifestyle, and one identity or belief system anymore
(Firat & Venkatesh, 1995; Firat & Dholakia, 2006; Cova, 1996, 1999; Cova & Cova, 2002; Gergen,
1995; Simmons, 2008). Third, the postmodern era has considerably influenced the power balance
between a company and its consumers (Cova, 1996; Firat & Dholakia, 2006). Marketing theories
promised companies to help them to control the meaning of their brands, yet the postmodern
approach implies that it is rather impossible to have complete power over the meaning its brand
conveys to consumers (Addis & Podesta, 2005; Christensen et al., 2005). The aforementioned
challenges will be addressed more extensively in the following paragraphs.
Chaos, confusion and juxtaposition of the opposites
The best way to describe postmodern marketing would be to look at it as a marketing that has to
operate between the opposite extremes: one-to-one marketing and tribal marketing, image
marketing and experience marketing, use value and linking value, transfer of meaning and cocreation of meaning, database and ethnography, communication and participation (Cova, 1996, p.
498). One of the most difficult tasks for marketing practitioners is to customize the message they
want to send to consumers and align it to all with the contradictions that postmodern consumers
present. In the postmodern era, consumers are individualistic, yet simultaneously they crave for a
sense of belonging to a social group (usually more than one group or a tribe9) (Cova & Cova, 2002).
According to Cova (1999; 1996), and Cova & Cova (2002), consumers are not that interested “in
the objects of consumptions” (Cova & Cova, 2002, p. 595), but more into “the social links and
identities that come with them” (Cova & Cova, 2002, p. 595). Therefore, companies are challenged
to supply consumers with products and services that are more individualistic, but at the same time
“encourage social interactions in communities” (Cova, 1996, p. 496) and provide social value to
them.
Fragmentation
“Fragmentation of markets into smaller and smaller segments, each with its complement of
carefully positioned products, is everywhere apparent” (Brown, 1999a, p. 34). As a result of this
9
“Tribe is the community of emotion and passion.” (Cova & Cova, 2002, p. 598)
38
postmodern phenomenon, consumers have many different lifestyles and are constantly adapting the
meaning of their purchased products or services to their own needs (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). The
variety of purchasing decisions that consumers have to make causes their confusion in choice, but
not in “what they do not want” (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002, p. 147). Firat & Venkatesh (1993) argue
that postmodernity will not change or have much impact on product offerings, yet communication
and marketing programmes have to be more creative, innovative, and adjusted to various lifestyles.
This requires organisations to focus on image, branding, positioning, and establishment; while
keeping the relationship with their customers and viewing them as company’s partners and
contributors (Christensen et al., 2005; Proctor & Kitchen, 2002; Firat & Dholakia, 2006).
Additionally, Firat & Dholakia (2006) point out that consumers have become less focused on the
“material values” (p. 140) of the product and more attracted by “the experiential values of
activities” (p. 140).
It is important to emphasise that fragmentation should not be viewed as a threat to organisations,
since it can provide them with new opportunities. According to Proctor & Kitchen (2002), the fact
that companies are being forced to give up mass segmentation and marketing enables them to
concentrate on particular consumer segments, which show different preferences from average
consumers. This makes easier for companies to take customers with different preferences into
consideration (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002).
Hyperreality, symbolism, and control of a company’s messages
Hyperreality also plays a big role in postmodern individual’s consumption activities. “Hyperreality
is the becoming real of what initially was or is a simulation or ‘hype’” (Firat & Venkatesh, 1993, p.
229). As Firat & Venkatesh (1993) explain, postmodern individuals tend to separate products from
their ‘actual’ meaning and attach to them new characteristics, which usually are not common to
them10. Furthermore, Cova (1996) believes that most consumption takes place not because of the
utilitarian meaning or value11 of a product or a service, but due to the symbolic value and
experiences that it provides to a consumer. In postmodernity, consumers create their own meanings
for a consumption object with the help of the fashion system, advertising channels and their own
10
Firat and Venkatesh provide the example of toothpaste, which through the advertising system can get “symbolic
meanings, such as sexiness, beauty, happiness, attractiveness, etc.” (Firat & Venkatesh, 1993, p. 230)
11
Utilitarian meaning: “perceived usefulness of a product in terms of its ability to perform functional or physical tasks”
(Arnould et al., 2005, s. 127).
39
consumption rituals12 (McCracken, 1986). Although marketers tend to think that the act of
purchasing is central in the consumption process, the most important part of it starts after the
purchase, when people give meaning to consumption objects and perform rituals while using them
(McCracken, 1986; Firat & Venkatesh, 1995).
Consequently, companies are not able to fully control the meaning of their brand once it is out in
the market, and they can only try to shape it through advertising and image marketing (Cova, 1996;
Christensen et al., 2008; Firat & Dholakia, 2006). Furthermore, the postmodern individual is very
concerned about the symbolic meaning of the goods and the social links they provide (Cova, 1996;
1999). Therefore, postmodern companies need to demonstrate that they are ready to negotiate the
meaning behind their offers (products and brands); engage in playful dialogue; encourage
discussions; and support “navigate experiences” which are produced by customers themselves and
not ‘given’ or ‘provided’ by an organisation (Christensen et al., 2005). Nevertheless, the fact that
companies are allowing consumers to contribute to the meaning creation of their products does not
imply that they are fully losing control of it. In fact, according to Christensen et al. (2005),
companies that are aware of consumers’ constructed meanings can achieve more control over the
process, or at least as much as it is possible in postmodern conditions.
Marketing has to follow certain rules that are important to postmodern consumers. Cova (1996)
suggests that marketing should be experience-based, interactive, provide connectivity and
creativity, be highly involving, and encourage participation in the creation of meaning process. The
task of marketing is to engage customers into a playful and imaginative process of meaning creation
that, according to Christensen et al. (2005), can be brought through networking and negotiation.
Thus, consumption meanings are the result of both company’s advertising and consumer’s
involvement (Cova, 1996; McCracken, 1986; Firat & Venkatesh, 1995).
The control of the environment
12
According to McCracken (1986) the meaning from goods to consumers is transferred through four rituals: Exchange
Rituals: when one person buys a good to the other person; Possession rituals: the rituals that help people to declare the
ownership of a good (cleaning, washing, comparing, bragging, etc.); Grooming rituals: a consumer or a good can be
groomed before going out or for a public display; Divestment rituals: rituals that help people to “remove” the signs of
previous possessor of a good, if it is not new, or preparing a good to be given out.
40
Given that the postmodern era brings instability and several new challenges, Christensen et al.
(2008) state that centralised communications can be really difficult to implement. Therefore,
companies should use more flexible forms of control. Thus, instead of trying to control the
environment with the help of a tightly centralised communication and marketing programme, some
authors suggest exploiting the unstable and chaotic environment that organisations need to operate
in (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002; Christensen et al., 2005; Firat & Dholakia, 2006). According to
Proctor & Kitchen (2002), companies which will embrace the instability and “provide the
possibilities for critical play for chaos and disorder will empower contemporary consumers, give
them greater control over the order they wish to see in their lives, and simultaneously benefit
marketing organisations” (p. 149).
Value creation through consumption
According to Firat & Venkatesh (1995), companies should perceive consumption as a value
creation activity, use this perspective in marketing communications, and bear in mind that
consumers are the ones that add some value and meaning to their brands. This could be exemplified
by social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (see section 2.2.4.3. and
2.2.4.4. for a description of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), which would be merely empty
platforms with no value if consumers had not created the content on them.
Cova (1996) argues that marketing can help support and strengthen the identity of postmodern
consumers, since it is so important to them. Cova (1996) encourages companies in the postmodern
age to create the relationship with its consumers while using:

IT: Placing messages and targeting audiences online may be easier than in traditional media.
On the Internet companies can easily locate websites, forums, or social media platforms that
are used by their target consumers. For instance, a music record label company could
promote its albums through the social media platform Last.fm. Thus, using the data Last.fm
that acquires about their users’ preferences, the record company could directly target
consumers who could be interested in a particular artist or genre of music.

Relationship marketing: a relationship marketing approach facilitates the attraction and
maintenance of postmodern customers, whose actions do not fit the patterns of mass
marketing or cannot be easily forecasted (see section 2.3.3.3.).
41

Personally customized products or services: tailoring a company’s products and services to
the preferences of its customers helps to establish good relationships between the
organisation and its clients, whilst helping to meet and satisfy their needs better.
Overall, while using marketing in postmodernity, organisations should take a new direction and:

Promote a vision that it is able to deliver fashionable and trendy products, which will stay
popular because the company is constantly working on them (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002).

Show consumers that they are ready to meet their constantly shifting desires and adjust to
various lifestyles (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002).

Switch from integrated marketing communication to efficient communication (Proctor &
Kitchen, 2002), from central and disciplined marketing to collaborative, subtle and
multifaceted marketing (Firat & Dholakia, 2006).

Observe the environment and establish conversations with its stakeholders (Christensen et
al., 2005).

Construct communication and marketing messages according to the demands of consumers
(outside-in approach) (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002).

Become what Christensen et al. (2008) call the “sophisticated observer”, and learn to notice
delicate changes or trends in the markets that are overlooked by competitors.

Not be afraid of exploiting opposing and conflicting symbols or topics in their brand
communication, as this can help to attain and maintain customers’ interest into company’s
brand (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002).
Overall, postmodernity has forced marketers to rethink their marketing and communication
strategies, become more creative, and attempt to address all the juxtapositions of the postmodern
consumer. Market professionals need to address consumers as active producers of symbolic
meaning to brands, and to remember that consumption, brand and image take a significant place in
consumers’ life and their self-identity creation process.
2.2. Social Media
42
2.2.1. What is it?
Due to the popularization of the Internet and the development of Web 2.0 technologies, web
applications such as MySpace, Twitter or Facebook have become relevant social phenomena over
the past few years. Every day, millions of people use the Internet for communication, collaboration,
sharing information, and entertainment purposes.
Social media can be defined as “the democratization of content and the shift in the role people play
in the process of reading and disseminating information (and thus creating and sharing content)”
(Solis & Breakenridge, 2009, p. VII). According to the digital marketing company iCrossing
(2007), social media allows the user to participate in the creation of the content; it is open to
comments and criticism; it offers easy to access information; it facilitates conversation and
community formation; and it links to other websites, posts, and articles. In other words, it provides
connectedness (iCrossing, 2007).
Basically, social media is a software which helps people to exchange content with others online
(Demopoulos, 2006). Blogs, forums, social networks, and wikis are examples of different social
media. Appendix 2 provides a classification of the most common forms of social media based on
the work of several authors.
2.2.2. Technological, social, and business aspects of Social Media.
Technologically, social media is intrinsically connected to the capabilities that have contributed to
the development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and web-applications
(Sankar & Bouchard, 2009). Social Media is the product of “Web 2.0”, a term that has been coined
to refer to what is perceived as a second generation of web development and web design (Solis &
Breakenridge, 2009). As opposed to the first generation of websites (Web 1.0), which were static,
Web 2.0 facilitates interactivity and the creation of user-generated content (UGC)13: text, video,
audio, and pictures produced by regular citizens and posted publicly on the Internet (Sankar &
13
Also referred to as consumer-generated media (CGM).
43
Bouchard, 2009; Weber, 2007). Thus, on the online shop Amazon14, for instance, users are allowed
to rate products, keep a wish list of them, post comments, participate in discussions, read other
users’ reviews, and receive recommendations based on their previous purchases and searches.
Therefore, Web 2.0 technologies facilitate interaction and communication to individuals accessing
to the Internet. From a sociological point of view, the emergence of social media involves a user
evolution from passive to active citizens which is usually described as a ‘revolution’ as well as a
‘democratization of information and media’ (Dearstyne, 2005; Maymann, 2008; Bowman & Willis,
2003). As opposed to traditional media, social media involves a shift in the way people discover,
read, and share news: from broadcasting to a many-to-many communication model (Solis &
Breakenridge, 2009). As Maymann (2007) points out, “nobody needs to know anything about
HTML coding, or paying for web hosting to use the internet as their platform” (Maymann, 2008, p.
11).
Blogs are usually cited as example of how social media allows consumer participation and
communication as well as the rise of opinion leaders and influencers (Gillin, 2007). According to
Sankar & Bouchard (2009), all around the world 384 million people (77 per cent of Internet users)
read blogs and 184 million of users have started a blog themselves. Consequently, authors have
started talking about “citizen journalism” (Solis & Breakenridge, 2009; Bowman & Willis, 2003),
and there has been much debate about whether bloggers are a new type of journalists or the
journalists of the future (Kent, 2008; Porter, Trammell, Chung, & Kim, 2007).
Overall, the interaction between users online and the appearance of new influencers have
implications for businesses. Conversations about companies, brands and products are taking place
on the cyberspace, and a type of written word-of-mouth (WOM) is generated from the
communication between members of a consumer community (Shang, Chen, & Liao, 2006).
Consequently, organisations are losing control over their channels of communication (Maymann,
2008; Weber, 2007), and marketing and PR professionals have started to consider social media as
part of their communications strategies (Solis & Breakenridge, 2009). Thus, “social media
marketing” emerges.
14
Amazon.com is an online retailer of a wide range of items such as books, movies, music, games, and electronics
(www.amazon.com).
44
2.2.3. Social Media Marketing.
2.2.3.1. Social Media Marketing: Definition and objectives
Social media has been broadly used for multiple marketing and communication purposes by private
and public organisations. Companies appear to be expending considerable resources on social
media campaigns and increasing their use of this new medium to attract customers, indicating that
they are finding value in the practice (Maymann, 2008). As authors Scoble & Israel (2006) predict,
in the future, a business that does not blog will be viewed as suspicious by the public. As a result of
its popularity among practitioners, numerous business books and whitepapers have been published
on social media marketing. Nevertheless, despite the growing popularity of its practice, academic
research on the topic is still limited.
Social media marketing can be defined as “an interaction with a set of online social media
conversations from marketing perspective, based on converged media (since conversations can span
both technologies and the media)” (Jaokar et al., 2009). According to The Society for New
Communications Research, 57 per cent of communication professionals states that social media is
becoming more valuable for their activities, while 27 per cent reports that social media is a core
element of their communications strategy (Carrabis, Cass, Gillin, Natch, & Peverill-Conti, 2008).
Some of the most common social media used by organisations in order to accomplish their
marketing objectives are blogs, online video, social network and broadcasting. Figure 3 shows a
ranking of social media tools used by organisations.
As Weber (2007) indicates, social media marketing may be utilized in order to achieve several
marketing objectives such as:









“Improving customer relationships.
Improving channel relationships.
Building market share.
Building brand awareness.
Inducing product trial.
Boosting sales revenue from specific goods and services.
Improving marketing return on investment.
Building awareness of and involvement in charitable or civic activities.
Increasing awareness of specific issues (energy conservation, environmental
protection, and the like).”
Weber (2007, p. 115)
45
Figure 3: Ranking of social media channels used by organisations15
Source: A research study by the Society for New Communication (Carrabis et al., 2008).
On the other hand, some authors have more sophisticated suggestions. Gillin (2008), for instance,
recommends a different type of social media depending on the business goal that an organisation
attempts to meet (see Table 4) (Gillin, 2008).
Table 4: Gillin’s (2008) recommendations for Social Marketing
15
Results obtained after asking respondents which of the following online tools had their organisation used in at least
one marketing campaign. The sample for the survey was 297 communications professionals, who represented a wide
range of industries (See Carrabis et al., 2008).
46
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Virtual world
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Customer Review
Engine
●
●
●
Private
Community
●
●
Social Network
Video
Build customer community
Counter negative publicity
Crisis management
Customer conversation
Expose employee talent
Generate website traffic
Humanize the company
Market research/focus group testing
Media relations
Generate new product ideas
Product promotion
Product support/customer service
Product/service feedback
Recruit brand advocates
Sales leads
Podcast
Appropriate social media tools
Blog
Business Goal
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Source: taken from (Gillin, 2008, p. 24)
2.2.3.2. Characteristics of Social Media Marketing.
Although the Internet could be simply considered another channel to broadcast marketing messages
to several audiences, authors coincide on warning practitioners about the differences that are
involved. According to them, due to the democratic nature of social media, a traditional marketing
approach would not deliver favourable results. Therefore, new models are proposed instead of the
‘Old Marketing’ (Weber, 2007), the ‘marketing model of mass media’ (Maymann, 2008) or the ‘Old
Rules of Marketing’ (Scott, 2007). Table 5 shows Weber’s (2007) juxtaposition of the two different
models: traditional marketing (‘Old Marketing’) versus social media marketing (‘New Marketing’).
Thus, as opposed to other one-way communication strategies, in social media marketing:

Companies pursue dialogue and the establishment of long-term relationships with
current and potential consumers via the Internet (Weber, 2007).
47

Traditional segmentation techniques (geographical, gender, age, or social) cannot be
applied to this new medium, because on the Internet consumers tend to group
themselves by attitudes and interests (Weber , 2007).

While the rest of channels traditionally used for corporate marketing communications
purposes only allow customers to talk to corporations, social media also facilitate
customer-to-customer communication. This makes social media a ‘hybrid element of the
promotion mix’ (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).

Due to the ‘democratization of information and media’ that social media has caused
(Maymann, 2008), on the Internet companies cannot have complete control over the
content of the message, their brands, and the communication process (Scott, 2007;
Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Some authors point out that the higher the level of consumer
control is, the higher the level of engagement with a company, a brand or a product
(Maymann, 2008). Consumers become active subjects, since they are able to participate
in online forums, write their own blogs and comment on others, become and follow
opinion leaders, boycott brands, broadcast videos and audios, link and tag information,
and share content with others.

Word-of-mouth, also called “word-of-mouse” on the Internet (Goldenberg, Libai, B., &
Muller, 2001), becomes truly relevant. Consequently, companies aim to be
recommended by Internet users. As Mark Zuckerberg, a creator of Facebook states:
“nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. A trusted
friend referral is the Holy Grail of advertising” (Maymann, 2008, p. 38).
48
Table 5: Old Marketing versus New Marketing
Components
Old Marketing
Marketing mindset
Use one-way, one-sided
communication to tell brand story.
Brand equity
Segmentation
Targeting
Communication
Content
Virality
Reviews
Advertiser/Publisher
Role
Strategy
Hierarchy
Payment
New Marketing
Nurture dialogue and relationships;
be more transparent, earn trust, build
credibility.
Brand recall is holy grail.
Brand value is determined by
customers: How likely are
customers to highly recommend the
good or service?
Group customers by demographics.
Group customers by behaviour,
attitudes, and interests—what's
important to them.
Target by demographics, especially
Target according to customer
for media buying.
behaviour.
Broadcast style: create and push
Digital environment for interactive
message out for customers to absorb. communication through search and
query, customer comments, personal
reviews, or dialogue.
Professional content created and
Mix of professional and usercontrolled by marketers.
generated content, increasingly
visual.
A nice feature but popularity too
Virality based on solid content about
often driven by flashy presentation
remarkable products or features that
rather than content.
will get people talking and
forwarding e-mail.
Think Michelin Guide: the experts
Think Amazon: users review and
weigh in.
vote on everything.
Publisher establishes channel and
Build relationships by sponsoring
controls content to gather an
(not controlling) content and
audience for the advertisers who
interaction when, where, and how
sponsor channels or programs.
customers want it.
Top-down strategy imposed by
Bottom-up strategy builds on
senior management drives tactics.
winning ideas culled from constant
testing and customer input.
Information is organized into
Information is available on demand
channels, folders, and categories to
by keyword, to suit users.
suit advertisers.
Cost per Thousand (CPM):
Return on Investment (ROI): Invest
Emphasis on cost; Advertisers buy
in marketing for future growth and
with the idea that share of voice =
profitability based on measurable
Share of mind = Share of market.
return
Source: (Weber, 2007)
49

New technical and aesthetic features of the message become crucial, such as its
interactivity and its ability to be shared electronically (Maymann, 2008).

New terms and methods for measuring the effectiveness of a marketing strategy emerge.
Concepts such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Optimization
(SMO) have become common in marketing literature (Maymann, 2008; Scott, 2007).
Thus, SEO refers to the importance of employing keywords, so that consumers can find
information on a company when using search engines such as Google; whereas SMO
indicates the relevance of optimising the interactivity between the different sources of
social media (RSS feeds, social bookmarking, blogging, etc.) (Maymann, 2008). The
goal of SMO is to increase the number of visitors to a website by enhancing its
“linkability” and “bookmarking” possibilities (Maymann, 2008).

New fears and threats appear for companies, which are concerned about several Internetrelated problems, such as the information revealed on the Internet by employees, viruses
and spy activities, legal issues, and bad comments on a blog (see section 2.2.5).
2.2.3.3.Customer Relationship Management: the core of Social Media Marketing
Overall, the approach defended by social media marketing authors is similar to the one taken in
relationship marketing literature. Just as in relationship marketing, the customer (and not the
product) becomes the centre of the strategy in social media marketing. Although in every market
relation there is a product, the sale itself is only present at a certain point in the relationship process
(Brogan & Smith, 2008; Weber, 2007). Thus, the relationship between a customer and a company
may start with a visit to a corporate website or with reading some reviews and comments on a
product (Scott, 2007).
From a relational approach, marketing is a social process that involves much more than the
traditional 4P’s of the marketing mix (Grönroos, 1994). Grönroos (1997), most representative
author of relationship marketing, defines marketing as “the process of establishing, maintaining,
enhancing, and when necessary terminating relationships with customers and other stakeholders, at
a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met, where this is done by a mutual
exchange and fulfilment of promises” (p. 407). Although Grönroos (2007) points out that the
50
traditional 4P’s of the marketing mix are still useful, his definition shows that marketing is a
broader concept.
According to Weber (2007), there are two ways for a company to build relationships with multiple
publics, via social media:
1) Participate in the conversations that users are having.
Nowadays consumers have the opportunity to browse the Internet in order to find information on
any given product and service. Current and potential customers have free access to online
conversations about any particular company or brand. Authors agree on the fact that companies
should participate in them (Gillin, 2008; Scott, 2007; Weber, 2007). Through these means
companies will have the chance of establishing trusting and open relationships with their publics,
and offer to them their “own version of the story”.
2) Provide compelling content and creating retail environments which customers want to visit.
In general, authors consider high-quality social media content to present the following
characteristics:
a) It is delivered to consumers when they need it, and it is not just broadcasted as traditional
advertising (Scott, 2007).
b) It balances professional and customer-generated content (Weber, 2007).
c) It is honest and transparent (Weber, 2007).
d) It is not just an “egocentric display of products and services” (p.35), but it focuses on the
customers and their problems (Scott, 2007).
e) It is ‘real’ and open to different points of view and ideas (Scott, 2007).
f)
It provides information and knowledge (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). For instance, Ikea’s
website displays “Anna”, an automated online assistant designed to guide users throughout
51
the company’s website16. Customers visiting the website are able to find answers to some
FAQs by chatting with “Anna”.
Overall, authors point out that the social web provides numerous opportunities for strengthening
and expanding relationships with customers and other stakeholders. These opportunities include, for
example: (1) using the Web to reach a high number of people (Maymann, 2008); (2) stimulating
collaboration with other organisations and the formation of partnerships (Weber, 2007); (3)
obtaining direct feedback and benefit from the free exchange of ideas (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009);
and (4) improving employee communications (Gillin, 2008).
2.2.4. Common Social Media Marketing Strategies.
This section reviews blogs, virtual communities, social network, micro-blogs, and viral messages as
some of the most common social media strategies used by organisations (Carrabis et al., 2008).
Although the use of the aforementioned social media applications is not discussed in this thesis, the
authors of this research will refer in numerous occasions to them in the rest of the chapters.
Therefore, it is important to provide a general description of those communication tools and
enlighten the reader on the corporate use of the different forms of social media.
2.2.4.1.Blogging strategy
In his article Critical analysis of blogging in public relations Kent (2008) defines blogging as a
novelty which is influencing the public relations discipline. Blogs are commonly defined as
Internet-based personal journals or diaries, very similar to simple websites. The word “blog” is an
abbreviation of “Web log” (Trammel & Keshelashvili, 2005; Murray & Hourigan, 2008; Gordon,
2006; Newson, Houghton, & Patten, 2008; Retteberg, 2008; Demopoulos, 2006; Kent, 2008).
According to Trammel & Keshelashvili (2005), and Retteberg (2008), the Internet and particularly
blogging let ordinary people to avoid entrance barriers created by the press (such as financing the
16
Available on Ikea’s website at URL: http://www.ikea.com/
52
publishing, or dealing with editors’ corrections), issue their own content, and get in touch with
readers worldwide.
Some common characteristics of blogs are: (1) the reverse chronological order of the posts (the
latest post is always on the top); (2) the ‘categories’ or ‘tags’ created by the blogger in order to
facilitate the organisation of the blog entries; (3) the content, which is fully controlled and managed
by its author(s); (4) the possibility for readers of publishing commentaries; and (5) the personal
manner in which they are normally written (Demopoulos, 2006; Kent, 2008; Trammel &
Keshelashvili, 2005; Gordon, 2006; Newson et al., 2008; Retteberg, 2008; Gillin, 2007).
The term blogosphere is used to refer to a whole network of blogs on the cyberspace (Maratea,
2008; Murray & Hourigan, 2008; Gillin, 2007); while a blogger is the person writing/owning a
blog; and the terms to blog or blogging are usually used when talking about the process of writing
and updating a blog (Nacht, 2006; Kent, 2008; Newson et al., 2008). One of the main features of
the blogosphere is that there is no one ‘in charge’ of it, yet it manages itself as a self-governing
body (Gillin, 2007). Thus, bloggers are expected to follow a certain ‘code of conduct’, whose norms
advice to always use references, link to other websites, allow readers to publish comments, as well
as be short and concrete. For instance, authors recommend bloggers to write blog posts which are
no longer than 500 words, be transparent by making modifications visible, and never delete any
posts (Gillin, 2007; Retteberg, 2008).
Corporate blogging
Companies have realised about the potential that blogging can provide, such as the possibility of
establishing conversations with their customers, and publishing their own content without the
involvement of third parties (Weil, 2006; Holtz & Demopoulos, 2006; Newson et al., 2008;
Retteberg, 2008; Gillin, 2007). Furthermore, it has become increasingly important to collect
feedback from customers and network with them, as traditional corporate communication channels
(such as mass media, press releases or 1.0 websites) are not efficient in doing so (Scoble & Israel,
2006; Newson et al., 2008). Consequently, the expectations of stakeholders have also changed, and
now they expect to be entertained, and need a substantial reason to read the corporate content in
order to engage in conversation with a company (Holtz & Demopoulos, 2006; Weil, 2006).
53
In spite of the great variety of corporate blogs17 on the cyberspace, the main subject of all of them is
the company and its products, and in this way they are used as marketing communication channels
(Weil, 2006; Catalano, 2007; Gillin, 2007). A corporate blog can be a powerful tool, especially
whether it is used to supplement other corporate communication channels (Demopoulos, 2006;
Kent, 2008; Catalano, 2007; Brooks, 2006; Gillin, 2007). Blogging can help establish a passionate
community around a company and its products, build long-term relationships with stakeholders,
strengthen a brand, and demonstrate a company’s expertise within a field (Holtz & Demopoulos,
2006; Weil, 2006; Brooks, 2006; Retteberg, 2008; Gillin, 2007). Additionally, Kent (2008) claims
that blogging can help a company persuade or deliver clear messages to a company’s stakeholders.
From a marketing perspective, other benefits of corporate blogging include: feedback on products
and services; enhancement of customer relations; source for new ideas and research; speed and
flexibility in the communication of corporate messages; humanisation of the company; the
possibility of reaching the target audiences at low cost; as well as a medium for employer branding
and crisis communication (Holtz & Demopoulos, 2006; Weil, 2006; Kent, 2008; Catalano, 2007;
Gordon, 2006; Newson et al., 2008; Retteberg, 2008). Newson et al. (2008) even argue that in few
years time “blogging will be as normal for businesses as having a website is today. The culture will
have changed: blogging will on balance be less geeky, less chummy, more commercialized” (p. 13).
Nevertheless, the big question for companies is whether they should consider blogging at all.
According to Newson et al. (2008), the decision highly depends on how often a company’s
stakeholders surf the Internet in order to find information about its products and services. If they do
it on a regular basis, blogging can be a great marketing tool for a company and help achieve
recognition in a cost-efficient way. On the other hand, Newson et al. (2008) point out that big
corporations, which participate in online conversations because of their size and influence18, should
consider the goals of their presence online more carefully. The best strategy for establishing a
corporate blog (does not matter if a company is small or big) is to have a communication goal
which must be communicated to its readers (Weil, 2006; Holtz & Demopoulos, 2006; Gordon,
2006; Brooks, 2006; Retteberg, 2008; Gillin, 2007). Furthermore, a company should establish some
guidelines for employees who are blogging about the organisation (Catalano, 2007; Retteberg,
17
As suggested by Holtz & Demopoulos (2006), the corporate blogs can be categorized into the following: executive
blogs, company blogs, product blogs, customer service blogs, advocacy blogs, and employee blogs.
18
Here influence refers to the fact that the companies are constantly mentioned in the press and have high brand
recognition between consumers, etc.)
54
2008). Kent (2008) states that an organisation has to fully understand how the blogosphere work in
order to reach its full potential and not make reckless decisions. Corporate blogs should follow all
the rules of the blogosphere, be updated quite often, not be used as a tool to push the marketing
messages or hard-core product advertising, but remain professional (Brooks, 2006; Newson et al.,
2008; Gillin, 2007).
Compared to traditional communication tools, blog formats allows more flexibility and, therefore,
should be written in a fun and personal manner, be interesting to read, and stay open to criticism
(Holtz & Demopoulos, 2006; Catalano, 2007; Brooks, 2006; Newson et al., 2008; Retteberg, 2008;
Gillin, 2007). Dell19, BBC20, Sun Microsystems21, General Motors22, Cisco23, or Benetton24 are
examples of some popular corporate blogs (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009).
2.2.4.2.Virtual community strategy
Individuals communicating on the Internet may constitute what has been named ‘virtual’ or ‘online’
communities. According to Rheingold (1993), a virtual community is “a social aggregation of
people carrying out public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of
personal relationships in the cyberspace” (p. 398). Although their members may be geographically
dispersed, virtual communities are similar to traditional communities even if the relationships
between them may develop without any physical encounter over time (Shang et al., 2006).
Consumers participate in virtual communities in order to satisfy a number of social and
psychological needs (Sicilia & Palazón, 2008). According to Sicilia & Palazón (2008), those needs
are addressed by a number of key values which online communities encompass: (1) functional
value (e.g. advice, information, and expertise), (2) social value (e.g. friendship, emotional support,
self-esteem, social status, social enhancement), and (3) entertainment value.
19
Dell’s blog available on URL: http://www.direct2dell.com
20
BBC’s blog available on URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs
21
Sun Microsystems’ blog available on URL: http://blogs.sun.com
22
General Motors’ blog available on URL: http://fastlane.gmblogs.com
23
Cisco’s blog available on URL: http://www.ciscoblog.com/
24
Benetton’s blog available on URL: http://www.benettontalk.com
55
Many virtual communities are formed around consumption activities (Kozinets, 1999). Virtual
communities which are constituted around a brand are called virtual or online ‘brand communities’
(Sicilia & Palazón, 2008). Some online brand communities such as Harley-Davidson or Macintosh
computers have been developed by consumers (Maclaran & Catterall, 2002), while others have
been built by companies themselves. Developing and supporting virtual brand communities
companies attempt to reinforce their brand image and corporate identity (Maclaran & Catterall,
2002). Some famous examples of virtual brand communities are the ones created by Manchester
United Football Club25 or Lego26 (Maclaran & Catterall, 2002). Weber (2007) proposes seven steps
to building a successful customer environment on the Internet:
1) Observe and create a customer map.
2) Recruit community members.
3) Evaluate online conduit strategies.
4) Engage communities in conversation.
5) Measure the company’s involvement.
6) Promote your community.
7) Improve the community.
“Idea sharing sites” are a good example of how companies are using the power of online
communities to engage consumers and reinforce their brands (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009). On
websites such as MyStarbucks Idea27 or Dell’s IdeaStorm28, users can present their ideas on how to
improve the companies’ products and services. The community will then discuss and vote on the
different ideas. The most popular suggestions are later studied and implemented by the company’s
management. In general, idea sharing sites are economic, effective and direct ways of using virtual
communities to obtain feedback from consumers, but also to engage and involve them into the
product development process (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009).
25
Available on URL: http://www.manutd.com/
26
Available on URL http://www.lego.com/
27
Available on URL: http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/home/home.jsp
28
Available on URL: http://www.ideastorm.com/
56
2.2.4.3.Social networking strategy
Social networking websites are also known as consumer-driven sites or media. According to
Newson et al. (2008), social networking sites are one of the key drivers of Web 2.0, since such
websites provide consumers with a high level of control over the content. Social networking
websites can be defined as social media platforms which enable individuals to connect to and
network with each other (Newson et al., 2008). Authors point out that individuals are using social
networking websites simply because they like “to connect to other people” (Kennedy, 2009, p. 20),
and because “they appeal to our instinct for collecting” (Retteberg, 2008, p. 73).
In this section Facebook and MySpace, two of the most popular social networking websites and
platforms, are explored. However, there are many other popular consumer-driven media, such as
professional social networking website LinkedIn and consumer-content distribution websites, such
as YouTube29 or Flickr,30 that have also substantial amount of influence online.
Facebook and MySpace Marketing
MySpace and Facebook are amongst the most popular social networking sites (Weber, 2007).
According to Gillin (2008), these websites can offer a company the possibility of reaching millions
of users. While Facebook has become a strong marketing tool due to its high number of adults and
white collar users (Gillin, 2008), MySpace is extremely popular amongst teenagers. It is even
claimed that MySpace has become a “mainstream lifestyle” in the US (Percival, 2008; Holzner,
2009; Newson, et al., 2008; Gillin, 2007; 2008). Retteberg (2008) points out that there is a great
social pressure on individuals, especially young ones, from their peers to join social networking
websites such as Facebook and MySpace, as a significant part of their social life is actually
“happening” online.
Facebook and MySpace, as any other social networking websites, offer a space where users can
create their personal profile, share information about themselves, and connect with other people
(friends, acquaintances, work colleagues, and people with similar interests) (Percival, 2008;
Holzner, 2009; Newson et al., 2008; Retteberg, 2008; Gillin, 2007; 2008). Facebook also provides
its users with access to third parties’ applications (such as games, quizzes, virtual gifts, etc.), and
29
YouTube is a video sharing website, where users can upload and share videos. Available on URL:
http://www.youtube.com.
30
Flickr is an image and video hosting website and online community platform, enabling its users to share pictures or
videos. Available on URL: http://www.flickr.com.
57
the possibility of updating their statuses31. The possibilities of networking and entertainment
simultaneously are probably some of the reasons why Facebook’s popularity grew so fast (Newson
et al., 2008; Gillin, 2008). Third parties’ applications (“widgets”) are also available on MySpace,
yet they are not that well developed (Percival, 2008). Retteberg (2008) points out that there are
some substantial similarities between blogging and social networking platforms such as Facebook
and MySpace, since a Facebook or MySpace user’s profile is actually “an automatically generated
blog, where ... story is reported or narrated by Facebook itself” (p.70).
Regarding the corporate use of Facebook and MySpace, these platforms help to build relationships
with consumers and create online communities, which are usually really costly to build anywhere
else on the Internet (Percival, 2008; Holzner, 2009; Newson et al., 2008; Gillin, 2008).
Additionally, the websites are really efficient in providing feedback from customers, as well as
access to their personal information displayed on the site (Percival, 2008; Gillin, 2008). Burger
King32 and Toyota33 are examples of companies which have used MySpace for connecting with
their target audiences (Percival, 2008).
According to Gillin (2008) the main difference between Facebook and MySpace is their purpose.
While Facebook is more appropriate to establish relationships and engage in conversation with the
stakeholders interested in a company or its products, MySpace can be used more as a medium for
branding and for entertaining the teen audience (Gillin, 2008). Holzner (2009) argues that, in
general, users spend more time on Facebook than on MySpace.
On Facebook and MySpace, companies can establish their own groups or pages and invite users to
join them (Percival, 2008; Newson et al., 2008; Gillin, 2008). However, a corporation entering a
social networking website has to offer some value to its users before “inviting” them to join its
network (Gillin, 2008; Weber, 2007). Creating a page or a group is not enough, thus companies
should keep users updated and share some interesting information and videos, organise contests,
etc. (Klaassen, 2009; Weber, 2007). As in any other social media, corporations should respect the
rules of the medium, and always be transparent by disclosing who they are and the purpose of
joining the site (Klaassen, 2009; Weber, 2007; Gillin, 2008; 2007). Companies should avoid using
31
A Facebook status is information on what a user is doing or thinking at the moment. A Facebook status is written by a
Facebook user on his profile page and is automatically shared with all his contacts on the platform.
32
Burger King’s MySpace page is available on URL: http://www.myspace.com/burgerking
33
Toyota’s MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/toyotamusic
58
social networking websites simply as corporate websites. In order to be noticed, they should try to
be more interactive and fun, and keep in mind that they are participating in platforms “where
visitors are part of the dialogue, not simply passive observers” (Weber, 2007, p. 203).
2.2.4.4.Twitter Marketing
Created in 2006, Twitter is a new tool that companies can use simultaneously with their traditional
communication channels (Kho, 2009; Karpinski, 2009; Gillin, 2008). The application, which started
as a very personal tool, is nowadays highly used by corporations (Kho, 2009; Karpinski, 2009;
Carter, 2009).
In short, Twitter can be defined as micro-blogging service provider. Individuals using it need to
answer the question ‘what are you doing?’34 in no more than 140 symbols (Kho, 2009; Karpinski,
2009; Alsever, 2009; Nutley, 2009; Micek & Whitlock, 2008; Newson et al., 2008; Gillin, 2008).
Usually Twitter users share their thoughts, ideas or experiences with their friends, although it is also
possible to provide links to articles in newspapers, blogs, corporate statements, pictures, videos, and
podcasts (Mortgage Strategy, 2009; Karpinski, 2009). Micek & Whitlock (2008) claim that Twitter
allows companies to contact their different audiences “in a non-obtrusive way” (p.42).
A Tweet is a status update on a Twitter account; while followers are the network of people who
track the updates on the account; and Tweeters or Tweeterers are the people using Twitter (Kho,
2009; Alsever, 2009; Newson et al., 2008). The key characteristics of Twitter is that every user
accounts are public and that everyone can ‘forward’ (retweet) someone else’s update to their
personal account, so that their own network of followers can read it (Kho, 2009; Newson et al.,
2008; Gillin, 2008). Furthermore, users can send direct messages to their followers and link their
Twitter account to their Facebook profile (Kennedy, 2009; Kho, 2009).
Twitter is a cheap communication channel for companies that (1) allows to reach current and
potential consumers; (2) contributes to managing customer relations by establishing conversations
with them; (3) helps increase brand recognition, and contributes to crisis and reputation
management; (4) establishes dialogues with influencers; (5) keeps companies updated about the
latest trends in the market; and (6) helps to track competitors online (Kho, 2009; Mortgage Strategy,
34
Kho (2009) suggests the more exact question would be “What would you like to share today?” (p.14).
59
2009; Karpinski, 2009; Carter, 2009; Micek & Whitlock, 2008). Furthermore, as Gillin (2008)
points out, Twitter offers speed and flexibility, some assets which are highly valued in today’s
turbulent environment.
Newson et al. (2008) suggest that Twitter could be mostly useful for companies that do their
business online or have a strong online presence. Companies thinking about creating a corporate
account on Twitter should consider the following suggestions:

It is important to set a clear communicational goal and be transparent about it to their
followers (Karpinski, 2009).

The best way to spread the news about a firm is to be retweeted. In order to do so, it is
important to suggest some interesting piece of news, and to write updates which have no
more than 120 characters (Kho, 2009).

As with any other kind of social media application, businesses should avoid promoting their
products, remain proactive, and react to what followers tweet (Karpinski, 2009; Alsever,
2009; Nutley, 2009; Micek & Whitlock, 2008).

Micek & Whitlock (2008) also suggest that companies should be creative while using
Twitter, be “the trend setter” (p.28), and “make an impact with every tweet” (p.43).

Employees should be the ones responsible for managing the corporate Twitter accounts of a
company, since this helps to humanise the corporation (Karpinski, 2009).

Different accounts can be created for different purposes, such as corporate press releases,
available job offerings, as well as promotion of events and new products. (Karpinski, 2009).
The New York Times is an example of one of the multiple companies currently using
Twitter (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009). The New York Times on Twitter35, written by Jacob
Harris, had 1,847, 829 followers in September 2009.
35
http://twitter.com/NyTimes
60
2.2.4.5.Viral marketing strategy
According to Wilson (2000) viral marketing is “any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on
a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s
exposure and influence” (p. 1). Viral marketing attempts to use word-of-mouth generated on the
Internet in order to achieve its objectives. The term ‘viral’ refers to the way those marketing
messages are spread from one person to another, similar to biological or computer viruses (Cruz &
Fill, 2008), by using online communication tools such as email or social network utilities.
Viral marketing messages can take the form of video clips, images, texts, mobile text messages, and
podcasts. When a company or advertising agency develops a viral marketing message in order to
reach a specific target, content and distribution are the key factors for success (Maymann, 2008).
Viral marketing success comes from self-publishing online content that people want to share
(Weber, 2007). According to Maymann (2008), a high-quality viral message characterises by the
following eight criteria:

An outstanding story: Viral messages are fun, provocative, irreverent, or subversive.

Stickiness: Viral messages are fresh and original.

Relevance: Viral messages do not seem to have a marketing purpose. Thus, the association
with a product or with a company is very subtle.

Portability: Viral messages are in a format easy to share using computer and mobile
technologies.

Shareability: Viral messages display a good story which encourages users to share it with
others.

Timing/actuality: Viral messages have not been broadcast through other media channels
before.

Content hook: Viral messages catch the attention of the user easily.

Depth: Viral messages are able to change from being a single unit of information to a unit of
potential experiences. For example, Cadbury created a viral video which showed a gorilla
playing the drums to a popular Phil Collin’s song (Maymann, 2008). As soon as the video
was posted on YouTube, users started to play with its content. Thus many users uploaded
their own version of the video that showed the gorilla playing their own favourite hits.
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2.2.4.6.Search engines, RSS, wikis, and podcasts
Other relevant tools that are usually used by companies in their marketing communications
strategies on the Internet are reputation aggregators, RSS, wikis, and podcasts.

Search engines are sites that act as a gateway for users to reach online content. Google,
Yahoo, and MSN are some of the most popular ones. Search engines are also called
reputation aggregators by some authors, since they provide rankings of the content on other
websites (Weber, 2007). Companies need to consider the way search engines work in order
to generate visitors for their websites. Keywords, content, structure, and links to other sites
are some of the factors that must be taken into account (Weber, 2007).

A wiki is an online social encyclopaedia whose content is created cooperatively, since it
enables visitors to add or edit the information on it (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009). A wiki may
gather information on general knowledge such as Wikipedia36 or on a particular topic, such
as Lostpedia37 which is the online encyclopaedia on Lost, an American television show
produced by ABC (Maymann, 2008).

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a mechanism commonly used by blogs and news sites
in order to inform their readers about new updates (Weber, 2007). Users can subscribe to a
website’s RSS feeds to receive an alert every time a new post has been published (Weber,
2007). Companies use RSS for multiple purposes such as informing their customers about
the launch of new products and special offers, or spreading press releases. The Guardian,
Financial Times, The Independent, and The Times are a few examples of newspapers
offering RSS subscriptions to their online readers. In the same way, the majority of
corporate blogs allow their readers to receive the latest updates via RSS feeds. Dell’s blog
Direct2Dell38, The clothing company Topshop’s Inside Out39, or Google’s blog40are
examples of corporate blogs using RSS to alert their readers about new updates.

A podcast is an audio file distributed via the Internet by companies or individuals (Sankar &
Bouchard, 2009). Podcasts distinguish themselves from other digital audio files because
they can be downloaded and then listened on a computer or a mobile device such as mobile
36
Available on URL: http://wikipedia.org/
37
Available on URL: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
38
Dell’s blog available on URL: http://www.direct2dell.com/
39
Topshop’s blog, Inside Out available on URL:: http://insideout.topshop.com/
40
Google’s blog available on URL:: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
62
phones or music players (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009). Users commonly subscribe to podcasts
by using RSS feeds. Sun Microsystems or IBM are examples of corporations which use
podcasts actively in order to engage consumers. On their podcasts, the organisations make
public their latest innovations, elaborate on some of their most frequently asked questions,
and include talks with highly-valued technology experts.
2.2.5. Risks and fears of using social media marketing
Companies are concerned about the risks and threats involved in social media. Apart from some
‘technical’ issues such as viruses and spy activities (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009), reputation damage
and the release of confidential information are the most common fears that stop corporations from
submerging themselves in social media (Scott, 2007; Weber, 2007). This section reviews these
common issues, and the responses to them that can be found in social media literature.
a) Viruses and spy activity.
It is advisable to be aware of the risks that using social media may carry out for an organisation. In
spite of the multiple benefits of joining Web 2.0 applications, companies communicating on the
Internet need to protect themselves against virus attacks and possible spy activities. Therefore, as
any other Internet users, companies should not forget the importance of keeping themselves
informed about the latest anti-virus innovations, using an effective anti-virus programme, and even
considering the possibility of contracting the services of a specialist company (Ministry of Small
Businesses and Consumer Services of Ontario, 2008).
b) Reputation damage.
Although more and more companies are using social media in order to communicate with their
stakeholders, some organisations are still afraid of receiving negative feedback and being publicly
criticized on their own websites (Gillin, 2007; Wright, 2005; Weil, 2006). As it was previously
highlighted, social media authors advise companies to be open to criticism and engage in a
conversation with their detractors (Wright, 2005) (see section 2.3.3.3. and section 2.2.4.1). Thus,
companies should participate in the conversations about them which take place on the Internet
since, due to the intrinsic characteristics of social media, criticism and bad comments will happen
63
anyway (Gillin, 2008; Scott, 2007; Weber, 2007). In fact, Wright (2005) argues that a company is
more likely to be trusted by the online community whether it is not scared of openness:
“As your secretiveness decreases, the community’s trust in your company increases.
This is a foundational part of employing and encouraging blacksmith bloggers.
While you obviously don’t want them to give away anything truly secret (like
upcoming product designs or financial issues), blacksmiths can do common sense
things to increase your customers’ trust in you, to build relationships, and to help
customers” (Wright, 2005, p. 103).
c) Release of confidential information.
Organisations occasionally fear the risks of operating in such a broad context as the cyberspace. The
release of vital information can be originated, not only from spy or viruses activities, but also within
the organisation itself. In particular, companies are usually cautious that information could be
revealed by their employees if they allowed them to blog. Regarding this particular objection, Scott
(2007) recommends not having specific rules for the use of social media:
“I'd suggest implementing corporate policies that say that employees can't sexually
harass anyone, that they can't reveal secrets, they can't use inside information to
trade stock or influence prices, and they shouldn't talk ill of the competition in any
way or via any media. The guidelines should include e-mail, writing a blog,
commenting on blogs (and online forums and chat rooms), and other forms of
communication. Rather than focus on putting guidelines on blogs (the technology), it
is better to focus on guiding the way people behave” (Scott, 2007, p. 57).
d) Intrusion of consumers’ privacy.
As Sankar & Bouchard (2009) point out, “questions like ‘who has what rights to the data?’ and
‘what happens to the data if a user closes an account?’ are important” (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009,
p.120). There is a thin line between what makes an experience personal and relevant, and what
makes people feel like their privacy has been invaded. Therefore, social media authors emphasise
the importance of respecting consumers’ privacy and the need for being very careful with the online
content that is produced by users.
There has been much debate about this issue online. For instance, in February 2009 Facebook
updated its privacy policies, eliminating users’ rights over the content they had published online
64
after closing their accounts41 (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009). Facebook had to face an “avalanche of
protest” after famous blogger Chris Walters published a post titled “Facebook's New Terms Of
Service: 'We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever”42 (Sankar & Bouchard,
2009). The criticism made the company retract its changes, and establish a public privacy policy
which could be reviewed and voted by its users (Sankar & Bouchard, 2009).
2.3. Social media marketing and postmodernity
Overall, marketing academicians have established the influence of social media in three postmodern
aspects: a) isolation and individualism, b) hyperreality, and c) chaos and confusion.
a) Isolation and individualism vs. communal consumption
As previously mentioned, postmodern consumers seek both individualistic and communal brand
experiences (Cova, 1996; Simmons, 2008). On the one hand, postmodern individuals want to feel
special and achieve this uniqueness through the consumption of products and services that help
them to define their identities. On the other hand, postmodern consumers dislike doing this in
absolute solitude, and they aim to be part of a community whose members share the same specific
interests (Simmons, 2008). Therefore, neo-tribalism emerges (Cova, 1997), and the consumption of
products and services becomes “the social glue” between postmodern individuals (Simmons, 2008,
p. 305). Consumption acquires a “communal dimension”, in which “the goods and services which
are valued are mainly those which, through their linking value, permit and support social interaction
of the communal type” (Cova, 1997, p. 307).
Sitting in front of their computers, individuals can now buy almost anything via the Internet, get
informed, work and keep in touch with others (Cova, 1997). Due to the development of
telecommunications and the surge of the Internet these activities can be carried out at home, without
having the need to go out and establish any physical contact with others. Consequently, isolation
and individualism increases, while online communities flourish (see section 2.2.4.2.).
41
4th February 2009, the clause deleted in their Terms and Conditions was called “Expire on Termination” (Sankar &
Bouchard, 2009).
42
Available on URL: http://consumerist.com/5150175/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-wantwith-your-content-forever
65
b) Hyperreality
The virtual world of cyberspace is itself an expression of hyperrealism (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002).
In the postmodern era, the Internet becomes an environment where individuals build simulations of
the real world or completely imaginary ones. Thus, the online world offers to postmodern
individuals:
a) A complete virtual reality which keeps growing every day, and where they can find
satisfaction to their information, communication, friendships, emotional support, advice, and
entertainment needs (Sicilia & Palazón, 2008).
b) Personalised “brand interactions with their own individualised selves” (Simmons, 2008, p.
302). According to Simmons (2008), postmodern consumers may prefer this type of contact
with brands, since they find traditional interactions between brands and consumers
hypocritical and false (Simmons, 2008). Consequently, consumers consider social media to
be a more trustful source of information than other channels of communication (Mangold &
Faulds, 2009).
c) The experience of a diversity of many themes, not becoming fixed in any single one
(Proctor & Kitchen, 2002).
c) Chaos and confusion
In postmodernity, marketers are confused. Not only because in the era of social media they are
losing control over the information on products and services (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002; Mangold &
Faulds, 2009), but also because it is becoming more and more difficult to segment consumers and
predict their purchasing behaviour (Cova, 1997) :
“...the consumer appears giddy, he or she does as he or she pleases, upsetting all
the modern reference system which had organized individuals according to
categories. Furthermore, he or she appears fickle and unreliable, buys black in the
morning and white in the afternoon, making it impossible to pin down their
behaviour. Finally, they buy less, or at least, spend less (as sales have not gone
down in volume), causing confusion in a socio-economic system founded on a
market economy whose motor is the increase of consumption” (Cova, 1997, p. 303).
Markets are becoming too fragmented and therefore, traditional marketing segmentation techniques
are no longer effective. Consequently, new marketing approaches have emerged, such as
relationship marketing, micromarketing, database marketing, and one-to-one marketing (Cova,
66
1997). It appears that there is a need for a customer database whose information is generated by
continuous interactions with the customers (Grönroos, 1996).
Simmons (2008) points out the potential of the Internet as a marketing tool that can address the
complexity of postmodern consumer markets, allowing organisations to tailor their messages to the
interests of every consumer. Individualised messages can be created due to the development of web
analytics (Simmons, 2008). As it was mentioned before, Amazon costumers receive products
recommendations depending on the pattern of their previous searches and purchases. Similarly,
Last.fm users are suggested to look at or buy certain albums based on the type of music they
normally listen to.
Overall, social media is proposed as a possible tool for solving some of the challenges which
postmodern consumers are presenting to marketers, such as the need for personalised experiences,
communal consumption, and changeable demands (Simmons, 2008); a source of information
different to traditional media (radio, television, magazines, and newspapers) (Mangold & Faulds,
2009); and a pool for offline social relations with like-minded people, opposed to traditional
physical interactions (Sicilia & Palazón, 2008; Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Cova, 1997).
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3. CASE ANALYSIS
3.1. Case #1: Nike+
Nike, Inc. – sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States - gives a good example
of how a company can go beyond just selling shoes and create some value-added service by using
social media. Nike Corporation has been always famous for their hard-core product marketing:
“The athletic shoemaker’s famous swoosh emblem and a string of ad campaigns, starting with its
iconic “Just Do It” series, set the gold standard for getting a clear message to mass audience”
(Holmes, 2006). However, the company started giving a new direction to their marketing and
communication strategy few years ago, when they decided to try the medium of social media. The
present section of the study reviews Nike+, a successful social media strategy carried out by Nike,
Inc. Through Nike+, the company offers its consumers collaboration, communication and the
possibility of becoming a member of biggest runners' community around the world (McClusky,
2009).
3.1.1. Nike’s social media activity previous to Nike+
Nike, Inc. has been very active when it comes to social media, and the company has presence on the
biggest and most popular social media platforms. Before their online project Nike+ was launched in
2006, Nike has already experienced certain success using social media tools for marketing
purposes. Among the main online initiatives undertaken were the blogging initiative Art for speed; a
viral marketing campaign on YouTube; and Joga.com, an online community for soccer fans.
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Art of Speed blog
The blog Art of Speed43 was one of the first online actions, released when Nike started
experimenting with social media in 2004. Park (2004) quotes Remy Stern, editor of the Art of Speed
blog, who claims that “This is really one of the first times that a leading brand has used the medium
to reach an audience“. The online media company Gawker Media44 was assigned the task of
coordinating and writing the blog during May 2004 (Ives, 2004; Notaro, 2008). Additionally,
Gawker Media also hosted the blog Art of Speed on its server.
The communicational goals of the blog were: (1) to publish 15 video-clips which several artists
created for Nike about the idea of velocity (Ives, 2004; Notaro, 2008), and (2) to stress Nike’s
attention for being the best in their field by linking the brand to the concept of speed (Notaro, 2008)
– “Speed has been a part of our dna” (onedotzero8, 2004). Art of Speed blog was a one-month
project, which included blog postings related to short movies, the artists who directed them, and
information about contemporary cinema in general (Gawker Media, 2004; Notaro, 2008; Ives,
2004; onedotzero8, 2004).
The company did not hope to get a monetary profit out of the blog Art of Speed. Instead, the aim
was to create good positive word-of-mouth, generate some buzz, and engage people – quality
audience vs. quantity audience (Notaro, 2008; Park, 2004)-, into a communication process together
with Nike (Ives, 2004; Notaro, 2008; Oser, 2004). According to Notaro (2008), the Art of Speed
blog was not advertised, and it was linked to Nike’s corporate website45 only by a banner on the
site. At the time the blog was released, the blogosphere was acknowledged by only 10 percent of
the Internet users, but it was a right tool to reach opinion leaders whose age varied from 18-34
(Park, 2004). Nonetheless, as Notaro (2008) points out, the blog generated a positive response from
the audience, even though back in 2004 Internet users were still very cautious and sceptical to all
online corporate content:
The site was so ‘cool’ that, as ..., it was visited every day by “several hundreds of
bored Adidas employees”. The mix of young talent, digital film-making and blogging
was irresistible even for the competition! ... The Art of Speed ad campaign was the
43
The blog’s URL address was: http://www.gawker.com/artofspeed. The website is no longer available. Some content
from the blog is still accessible on http://www.onedotzero.com/artofspeed/# (October, 2009).
44
Gawker Media is online media company that owns over 10 blogs. It was a first Gawker Media’s blog for a corporate
client (Ives, 2004).
45
Nike corporate website: http://www.nike.com/
69
culmination of Nike’s long-standing efforts to ‘in-corporate’ the concept of speed
within its own ‘corporate image’ (Notaro, 2008, pp. 70, 76).
The success of Art of Speed depended not only on Nike’s marketing efforts, but partly more on the
fact that the blog was built like a microsite46 within the blog Gawker.com which, according to Oser
(2004), for some people had more authority and credibility than Nike itself.
First viral campaign on YouTube
In 2005 Nike became one of the first brands to realise about the potential of YouTube47 as an
effective medium to spread viral marketing content (Wasserman, 2006). Thus, by the end of 2005
the company uploaded a video48 showing the star football player Ronaldinho trying on a pair of
Nike’s shoes (Wasserman, 2006; Maymann, 2008), and then hitting “the cross bar of a football goal
three times in a row” (Maymann, 2008, p. 25).
Image 1: Football player Ronaldinho in two captures of the viral marketing video released by Nike in
2005.
According to Maymann (2008), the video became one of the most successful clips in the history of
YouTube, and it was seen more than 22.5 million times. The video spread virally and became very
popular on YouTube, since it was original, entertaining and engaging (Wasserman, 2006;
46
According to Gawker Media “micro-site” is a “borrowed a term from the magazine world: the microsite is labelled
special advertising section” (Gawker Media, 2004) and it is used when it is necessary to distinguish it from the editorial
content (Gawker Media, 2004).
47
YouTube beta version was launched in 2005 (Wasserman, 2006).
48
Video available on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_JS1YG8H2c
70
Maymann, 2008). Nike, Inc. reported that the video was very successful: “For a modest amount, we
make digital content readily accessible to the world, giving consumers the choice to view it, on
demand. In the case of the Ronaldinho video, we’ve had an incredible consumer response from
every corner of the world”, said Trevor Edvards, EVP-global brand and category management at
Nike (Wasserman, 2006).
Joga.com
In February 2006, Nike started a partnership with Google in order to launch their first social
networking website for soccer fans, called Joga.com,49 during the FIFA World Cup50 (Holmes,
2006). Nike was creating the content for the project, whereas Google51 was responsible for the
website’s technical solutions (H.R., 2006). The social networking site Joga.com was a part of
marketing campaign Joga Bonito (which means “play beautifully” in Portuguese) (Holmes, 2006;
H.R., 2006; Ramaswamy, 2008; Klaassen, 2006). The campaign Joga Bonito consisted of several
commercials featuring French soccer star Eric Cantona52 (Croft, 2006). Nike created their own
online video channel for the campaign, called JogaTV, which displayed videos featuring Nike’s
endorsed football stars on YouTube (Holmes, 2006). According to Holmes (2006), the website
Joga.com was the creative and innovative outcome, which emerged from the broadcasting situation
in the US, where Adidas had bought all the rights to advertise during the FIFA tournament. It was a
new kind and different marketing initiative coming from a “traditionally product-centric
organization” (Ramaswamy, 2008), which usually had focused on mass advertising campaigns
(Holmes, 2006; Ramaswamy, 2008). However, Holmes (2006) suggests that it was a natural
development of Nike’s marketing communications, since the company was keeping the track of the
online conversations about its brand.
Joga.com became an online community for soccer lovers (speaking 14 different languages), where
fans could socialise and network with each other, discuss matches and football lifestyle, blog about
their favourite teams, create fan groups for players, download exclusive videos from Nike, and
share their own videos and pictures demonstrating their soccer skills (Holmes, 2006; H.R., 2006;
49
The website was no longer available in November, 2009.
50
World Cup was held in Germany from June 9 until July 9, 2006.
51
According to Croft (2006) it was “the first time Google has created and maintained a site for a third party in this way”
(p.19).
52
Cantona (along with other famous soccer stars) was appearing in number advertisements filmed for Nike and
broadcasted on TV, encouraging soccer players to play beautiful football (Croft, 2006)
71
Ramaswamy, 2008; Klaassen, 2006; Croft, 2006). As on any other social networking website,
Joga.com users could create their own individual profiles and befriend with others (Ramaswamy,
2008; H.R., 2006; Klaassen, 2006).
By the end of the World Cup, the community had more than 1 million of registered members, and
many more visitors had watched the videos. For instance, one of the most successful videos
featuring soccer star Ronaldinho53 had been viewed 7.5 million times in 2006 (Holmes, 2006).
Joga.com became so successful and grew into a passionate online community because Nike was
able to persuade soccer fans that the website was really devoted to soccer, and was not just a
marketing stunt for a company (H.R., 2006). Joga.com initiative helped the company to understand
their target audience’s needs and preferences better, get an idea of what they want – and do not
want – to be engaged with, helped to create a passionate football fans’ community centred around
Nike’s brand and, most importantly, provided value to football fans (Holmes, 2006; Ramaswamy,
2008). As Ramaswamy (2008) points out, Joga.com helped Nike to reach a community of millions
of passionate soccer fans through value creation and experience.
Image 2: Football player Ronaldinho (Left) and players from the Brazilian national football team
(Right) in two captions of the videos released for the Joga Bonito campaign.
Social media was not the only platform that was used to popularize Joga Bonito initiative.
According to Ramaswamy (2008) the Joga.com social network was also a part of a bigger
marketing campaign:
Nike sponsored street soccer competitions, created a web site that connected
professional players with their fans, ... sponsored conventional Internet marketing
53
Available on Nikesoccer Channel on YouTube, URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTY4Yo2SR2o
72
programs. ... on the “Nike ID” web site, the firm invited twenty purveyors of sneaker
culture to compete in designing a new shoe for Nike (p. 9).
3.1.2. Nike+ - the biggest runners’ community online
“Nike + iPod is a partnership between two iconic, global brands with a shared passion for
creating meaningful consumer product experiences through design and innovation,” Mark
Parker, Nike CEO (Nike, Inc., 2006)
In 2006 Nike launched Nike+, a new social media initiative that it would eventually become its
most successful one. Through Nike+, the company created the biggest runners’ community online:
“the legion of people, from Olympic-level athletes to ordinary folks just hoping to lower their blood
pressure, who are plugging into a data-driven revolution” (McClusky, 2009). Through a very
successful marketing communication programme and a product development strategy, Nike build
up a loyal brand’s advocacy group, creating an experience for its customers that goes beyond the
purchasing action (McClusky, 2009; Morrissey, 2009; Gregory, 2007; Olander, 2008).
Additionally, the project Nike+ was created in partnership with Apple Inc.54, turning out to be a
model of an outstanding collaboration between “the world's top sporting-goods brand with the
world's most beloved gadget55” (Gregory, 2007).
What is Nike+?
Nike+ can be defined in two ways: 1) as a system, which helps runners to track their workouts, and
2) as an experience that gives runners the possibility to achieve the maximum results from their
trainings, and share the collected information online with others (Olander, 2008).
54
“Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and
computer software products. The company's best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod and
the iPhone” (http://www.apple.com).
55
Apple’s iPod
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Thus, in order to understand the success of Nike+, its technical features must be taken into account.
Stefan Olander56, Global Director of Brand Connections at Nike, describes Nike+ as follows:
It‘s a system ... that actually helps you track how you are doing when you are out for
a run. ... a little sensor in your left shoe pings out a signal with every strike you take.
So you get to know all the time how fast you’re going, how forth you’ve gone, how
many calories you’ve burned. (Olander, 2008, p. ¶2).
Nike+ sensor can send out the information into two devices that runners can check while they are
exercising: iPod57 or Nike+ SportBand (Olander, 2008).
Image 3: Pictures of Nike+ iPod kit and Nike+ Sport Band (source: www.nikebiz.com)
Nike and Apple launched the Nike+ iPod kit in July 2006 (Gregory, 2007; Nike, Inc., 2006). The
kit, which can be purchased for $29, includes (1) a sensor that a runner can put under the sole of
their Nike+ running shoe pair (which costs around $100)58, and (2) a receiver, that has to be
connected to an iPod. The device will assemble different data about the work out, such as the speed,
the distance, and the calories burned by the runner (Gregory, 2007; Vella, 2007; Matthews, 2007;
R/GA, 2007a; Nike, Inc., 2006). The information gathered can be received either on the media
56
See Appendix 3 for a transcribed interview with S. Olander.
57
“iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and distributed by Apple Inc.” (http://www.apple.com/itunes/).
Nike+ sensor is only compatible with iPod nano and iPod touch players. An iPod can be purchased for $140-399,
depending on the model.
58
The sensor can actually be also placed in any other sports shoe (i.e., by cutting a whole in a shoe sole (Noone, 2009)),
but it is produced specifically for Nike shoe line.
74
player’s screen, or be transferred in audio format and heard over the music (Gregory, 2007;
McClusky, 2009; Vella, 2007).
A jogger can also opt for Nike+ SportBand59, which will collect all the above-mentioned
information about the run, just as the iPod does, although it would give no feedback during the
actual workout (Olander, 2008; Porges, 2008; Nike, Inc., 2009e). After the jogging, the collected
data from any of the devices can be uploaded through an USB connector to the website
http://www.nikeplus.com/ (Gregory, 2007; Olander, 2008; McClusky, 2009; Porges, 2008;
Matthews, 2007; Nike, Inc., 2009e).
Key features of Nike+
Collecting the data from the workouts is just the starting point for the runner. As the digital media
agency R/GA60, that helped Nike to create the digital experience of Nike+, explains: “Instead of
fading into memories, your runs in the real world become meaningful assets in a digital world”
(R/GA, 2007a, p. ¶5). The whole Nike+ experience comes after the running when the data is
actually transformed into valuable information for the runner: it can be collected in a visual format,
such as a diagram or graphic, stored, and then compared with other runners’ data online (McClusky,
2009; Olander, 2008; R/GA, 2007a).
Nike+ website was designed in a way that (1) it was simple and easy to use; (2) it could motivate
users to start or keep running through competition; (3) it helped users connect with like-minded
people, and (4) it was fun (R/GA, 2007a). Thus, on Nike+ website members of the community
could (Nike+, 2006-2009; Nike, Inc., 2009e):

Track and store the information about their sports exercises.

Personalize all the workouts according to the runner’s mood, the weather, or the root of the
run.

Set different kinds of goals61 for themselves, and monitor their progress.

Set a coaching programme62, while getting training advice and support from the website and
the community.
59
Nike+ SportBand can be purchased for $59.
60
See Appendix 3 for a transcribed video that was produced by the digital agency R/GA.
61
There five types of goals a runner can set: (1) run more often, (2) run farther, (3) burn calories, (4) run faster, and (5)
set a coaching programme.
75
Image 4: Two captures of the front page of Nike+ website. The menu on the horizontal bar invites the
users to choose between “Runs”, “Goals”, “Challenges”, “Coach”, and “Mini” (Top). When users
scroll down the site, they are also encouraged to click on “Share” on Twitter or Facebook, “Import”
their email contacts, and “Invite” friends to join Nike+ (Bottom).
62
Nike+ Coach programme consist of the following: start running, train for an event, train for a distance, and train for a
sport.
76

Network and socialise with other members of the community.

Set challenges, compete with their friends or anyone around the world, and participate in
events organized by others.

Get motivated and inspired by a ‘mini version of a runner’. Community members can create
a mini avatar (a model of the runner) on the website, which then would start
‘communicating’ with runners and encourage running more63.

Connect their user accounts on Nike+ with their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

See infomercials on how to use Nike+ devices or shop for running equipment.

Map their running routes and share them with the others.

Find new running challenges, as well as support and connection from other users, in the
global forums (R/GA, 2007b).

Download desktop widgets, and subscribe to RSS feeds (R/GA, 2007b).
All the above-mentioned functions helped to engage members of the Nike+ community,
encouraging them to visit the website regularly, and not only after running. According to Nike, the
company made so much information available online that extended “the foundation of Nike
experience into a fun and active communication platform” (R/GA, 2007b, p. ¶6). As Olander (2008)
explains:
Once you start using it, you realise that it’s really hard to run without it. ... one of
the most compelling and important things it’s not just a data at the time of the run.
But the fact that it gives you a currency that you can keep it with you that you keep
building. ... And all that makes for much richer experience after the actual run
(Olander, 2008, p. ¶3).
Additionally, the functions of the Nike+ community were design to allow and increase the
interaction between the members (Gregory, 2007; Olander, 2008). As Olander (2008) points out:
And once we started making it possible for anyone in the community to connect with
anyone anywhere in the world, both through their running data, but also through
our forums and just talking to people. It opened up the whole new world for this
community that was never existent before. So you could do something what you did
on a micro-scale with your friends, now you can do that with anyone. ... every single
day you see how you are doing or how they are doing, but you don’t have to pick up
phones and call each other (Olander, 2008, p. ¶3).
63
See Appendix 3 for visuals of Nike+ website.
77
According to McClusky (2009) and Greene (2008), the fact that members could share their running
experiences with other people in the community also worked as a huge motivational factor for them
to achieve better results. As McClusky (2009) explains:
Nike+ lets a user create a goal—one that other people can see. Let's say I pledge to
run 100 miles this month. I can then enter the email addresses of people I'd like to
cheer me on—my wife, my mother, my boss. As I sync up after each run, the data is
uploaded to the site, and my support group is updated on my progress. The hope is
that they'll use whatever techniques they can to try to motivate me. (One imagines
praise, guilt, and threats, in that order) (McClusky, 2009).
Image 5 shows the example of one blogger‘s experience while using Nike+ iPod Kit.
3.1.3. Nike+ results
Nike+’ marketing communication strategy
“Nike+ creates a completely new category where the product, the online experience and
marketing are inseparable” (R/GA, 2007b, p. ¶4).
According to Greene (2008), the key lesson to be learned from Nike is that the runners’ online
community Nike+ is not centred on Nike’s brand itself. The whole idea of Nike+ looks genuine. It
is all about sharing the experience, making running more fun, and helping other members to achieve
better results (Olander, 2008). Olander (2008) suggests that, experimenting with social media
platform, Nike realised about the need to offer some value to its consumers. Nike+ community has
been the most significant initiative that they have taken so far:
We have been really careful ... and really make sure that when we launch a new
feature, when we improve something, the starting point isn’t for us to figure out how
we can know more about you, but, actually, how we can make your run better. And, I
think, that balance is really important when you have the community and they’re
really sensitive to the fact that it is for them and by them” (Olander, 2008, p. ¶7).
78
Source: (Noone, 2008)
Source: (Noone, 2009)
Image 5: Blogger Veronica Noone’s impressions about Nike+
79
In the past, the product was the end point of the consumer experience. ... Now it's the starting
point. (Gregory, 2007)
Moreover, Gregory (2007) states that Nike’s attitude towards marketing communications and
innovation was influenced by the digital revolution. Thus, at the moment “to Nike, you're no longer
just buying a sneaker. You're joining a global jogging club – and keeping up with fellow runners
will, the company hopes, motivate you to buy more Nikes” (Gregory, 2007). According to
McClusky (2009), the success of Nike+ resides in its customer-oriented approach: instead of being
product-centric, the community focuses on addressing the runners’ needs. As the digital media
agency R/G explains:
Whereas most of initiatives focus on enticing the consumer to complete the
purchase, Nike+ continues to engage the consumer long after the transaction has
occurred, keeping Nike+ runners motivated and connected with each other and with
a brand. ... Nike+ is revolutionising marketing. Consumers are expecting more from
a brand than static outbound messaging, and Nike+ redefines how brand can reach
its audience through meaningful personal experiences, two-way communication and
innovative technology (R/GA, 2007b, pp. ¶6,18).
Image 6: Pictures from Nike Human Race 200964
Nike has undertaken a number of online and offline initiatives in order to promote Nike+. Among
all of them, the annual running event Nike Human Race is probably the most ambitious one. The
race, which was organized in 2008 for the first time, attracted more than 1 million participants in 27
cities around the globe in 2009 (Nike, Inc., 2009b; Nike, Inc., 2009c). In order to participate in the
event, the runners had to run 10 kilometres with the Nike+ gear and later upload the running data to
64
Images taken from (Nike, Inc., 2009c; Nike, Inc., 2009d).
80
the Nike+ website. They could do it in one of Nike hosted cities, or anywhere else they were that
day (Nike, Inc., 2009a; Nike, Inc., 2009c).
Additionally, Nike+ is also present on the Internet-based radio and music community Last.fm65, as
well as YouTube66, Twitter67, and Facebook:

In 2006 the company created a group for the Nike+ community members who are using
Last.fm to allow them to ‘store’ the data about their music preferences and get
recommendations (Nike+, 2006).

In 2007 Nike+ channel on YouTube was created (Nike+, 2007b). Since then, the company
has uploaded 47 videos which, by the end of October 2009, had been watched all together
more than 1.2 million times (Nike+, 2007b). The most popular clip was Nike+ television
advert called “Need motivation?68” (Nike+, 2007b), that was viewed more than 750,000
times and had been commented more than 400 times in October 2009 (Nike+, 2007a).

In October 2009 Nike+ Twitter account had more than 4,700 followers, as well as 60
Tweets on Nike+ news and challenges (Nike+, 2008). Nevertheless, both platforms seem to
be abandoned by Nike, and have not been updated for few months (Nike+, 2007b; Nike+,
2008).

In October 2009 there were also two groups called Nike+ on Facebook69, which together
summed around 4,000 registered members. In the groups, created by Nike+ fans, users
share information about themselves, disclose their ‘powersongs’70, and challenge each
other.

Additionally, according the agency R/GA, in 2007 “Over 400 sites carry Nike’s widgets or
feature a Nike+ channel. Runners from every corner of the world have uploaded scraped
65
Available on URL: http://www.last.fm/group/Nike%252B%2BMusic%2BGroup#shoutbox
66
Available on URL: http://www.youtube.com/user/NikePlusTV#p/u
67
Available on URL: http://twitter.com/nikeplus
68
Available on URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfWTQA6QPk4
69
Available on:
http://www.facebook.com/search/?init=srp&sfxp=&q=nike+plus#/group.php?gid=27492636814&v=wall&ref=search,
and
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2211841580&ref=search&sid=635402404.485712663..1#/group.php?gid=22
11841580&v=wall&ref=search
70
Term employed by runners to refer to their most motivational song.
81
media from Nikeplus.com to their personal website, their page on their social site or their
blog” (R/GA, 2007b, p. ¶14).
Nike+ - a partnership between two giant brands - Nike and Apple
Nike has been always interested in innovations and product development initiatives (McClusky,
2009). They tried sports watches, heart-rate monitors, MP3 players together in collaboration with
Philips (McClusky, 2009). However, it has not brought the company big success, not at least until
their partnership with Apple.
By the year 2006, Nike was giving up its leader’s position in the running shoes market to its
competitors (R/GA, 2007a). Thus, the company needed something to win back its position. “The
marriage” between Nike and Apple happened when Nike’s engineers realised that the majority of
runners enjoyed listening to music while they are jogging (Matthews, 2007; McClusky, 2009;
Gregory, 2007; R/GA, 2007a). “Most runners were running with music already,’ says Nike
president and CEO Mark Parker. ‘We thought the real opportunity would come if we could
combine music and data.” (McClusky, 2009). As Matthews (2007) points out, under the Nike+
system, the iPod becomes a runner’s coach, and his best running companion.
Thus, the partnership between the two companies attracted legions of people: from hard-core
runners to amateur joggers (R/GA, 2007a; McClusky, 2009). During the product development
process Apple was responsible for creating the sensor, whereas Nike had to adjust it to the running
shoe line, and create an online platform to upload the data (McClusky, 2009; Gregory, 2007).
The partnership between the two brands has been one of the most influential factors in the triumph
of the Nike+ project, since the companies’ products supplement each other very effectively
(Matthews, 2007; Gregory, 2007; McClusky, 2009; Ramaswamy, 2008). “The combination of
innovative, mobile technology, online communities and athletic gear expands the field for cocreation” (Ramaswamy, 2008).
Measuring the success of Nike+
82
McClusky (2009) claims that Nike succeeded in creating the biggest runners’ community
worldwide due to its ability to combine a successful product with a social media platform. The
community keeps on growing every day, and by the end of October 2009 counted with more than 2
million members, who have collectively ran more than 281 million kilometres (Nike, Inc., 2009c)
and “burned more than 13 billion calories” (McClusky, 2009).
The $29 Nike+ Sport Kit, and the $59 Nike+ SportBands brought $56 million on sales for the
company in 2008 (Greene, 2008). According to Stefan Olander (2008), Nike+ also helped the
company to increase the sales of other complementary products, such as running shoes, becoming
leaders in the market:
We’ve seen grate conversions. ... it gives us tremendous opportunity if someone is
used to running in another brand and they like another brand, once you start using
Nike+, you have a really good reason to try out Nike’s line of shoes. ... so if ...
someone is used to another brand, the only reason could be communication, now
another reason is the community, and you have another reason to try it out. And we
have seen great results in terms of increasing our market share through Plus. ... you
have to look at this through longer-term lens, and it’s been phenomenal for us to see
how that just became a gateway into Nike brand (Olander, 2008, p. ¶9).
As Greene (2008) points out, it is difficult to find correlation between Nike+ online community and
the bottom line of the company. However, Nike’s running-shoes market share in the USA grew
from 48 percent in 2006 to 61 percent in 2008 (Greene, 2008). According to R/GA agency, Nike+
was really successful for the company:
Nike+ is reinventing running as a fun, social, digitally enhanced sports. It has reestablished Nike’s dominance in the category as countless runners new to a brand
has discovered the superior performance of Nike running shoes. And former
loyalists around the world are now reconnecting with the brand (R/GA, 2007b, p.
¶17).
Nike+ had to fulfil the needs of a wide range of users, “from geeked-out marathoners to everyday
fitness joggers” (R/GA, 2007a). According to McClusky (2009), the company did not want their
gadget to become too complex, and difficult to understand. Nike wanted to “keep it simple” (R/GA,
2007a).
83
Nonetheless, the company needed to accept the fact that they also need to learn from the
community, and they cannot be the only ones setting the rules for the communication with Nike+
users. Stefan Olander says:
We’ve learned a lot from the community. ... We have open forums and they have the
ability – as the consumers – to come and participate. If there are things that we can
improve, which ... we get to learn that so fast from our community and get response
to it. ... we help each other to get better and that’s been tremendous feedback from
the group ... I think, every category has something where both the use of data, and
the use of social interaction can be used to really create something new that no one
else has done before.” (Olander, 2008, p. ¶5).
Apart from encouraging customers to buy Nike products, the Nike+ community has bought many
benefits to the company, such as access to information about its customers that was not accessible
before. Thus, through the Nike+ community, Nike has found out that (McClusky, 2009):

During the winter season people in Europe and Africa run longer distances than in the US.

The average workout of a runner is 35 minutes long.

Sunday is the day of the week when most people go out to run, and most of them prefer
doing it in the evenings.

Nike+ users tend to set more goals for themselves after having some holidays, especially
after New Year’s Eve.

Black Eyed Peas’ song “Pump it” is the trendiest Powersong71 amongst the members of the
Nike+ community.

If a new Nike+ user uploads the data of five workouts into the system, the possibilities of he
or she keeping running and being a member of the community are very high. “At five runs,
they've gotten hooked on what their data tells them about themselves” (McClusky, 2009).
Nike+ already “set the standards for how all brands will eventually live in the digital world”
(R/GA, 2007b, p. ¶19).
71
Community members can choose their Powersong – a song that will give them extra motivation to hold on and reach
their goal while working out (McClusky, 2009; Vella, 2007). All they need to do is just press the “Power button” to
access it (Vella, 2007).
84
3.2. Case #2: The Lost Experience
Lost is a television series produced by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC)72, which
follows the adventures of a group of plane crash survivors on a mysterious island. The show, which
started in 2004, has been aired in five annual seasons since then. Lost became a popular success
very quickly in each of the 210 territories in which it was broadcasted73, particularly in the US, the
UK and Australia (Disney ABC Group, 2006a). According to the ABC, in 2006 Lost was “the
fastest-selling TV series in Buena Vista International Television's (BVITV) history”74 (Disney ABC
Group, 2006a).
As part of the marketing communications campaign for promoting Lost, in 2006 ABC launched The
Lost Experience, an alternate reality game (ARG), a successful campaign which lasted for six
months (Maymann, 2008). The present section describes The Lost Experience initiative, which was
based on a wide range of social media platforms and designed with the purpose of engaging the
participants with the television series (Miller, 2006; ABC Entertainment, 2006; Disney ABC Group,
2006a).
3.2.1. Pre-campaign stage
A strong fan base has been built around the show since its very beginning (Maymann, 2008). Since
2005 Lost fans, who call themselves Lostaways (The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2005) or Losties
(Disney ABC Group, 2005), have got together at conventions and events organised by ABC,
72
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American television network, created in 1943. ABC
Entertainment, the producer of the Lost series, is part of the ABC Television Network and is managed by Disney-ABC
Television Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company. Other TV shows produced by ABC Entertainment include
Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Boston Legal.
73
According to ABC, Lost has ranked as one of the top three U.S. series on free TV channels in all those 210 countries.
Furthermore, the show has become the American TV series with the highest levels of audience in Channel 4 (UK), and
one of the top two TV series in Australia’s Seven Network.
74
Also known as Disney-ABC International Television.
85
developing a “cult-like” attention towards the series (Ahrens, 2005). Furthermore, the activity of the
Lost community was already largely reflected online. In 2005, countless fan sites displayed all sorts
of content, discussions, and speculations about the show on the Internet (Ahrens, 2005; The San
Diego Union-Tribune, 2005). Additionally, there was also Lostpedia, the online encyclopaedia on
Lost, which was created in 2005 by fans of the series75. As The Washington Post reported, Lost fans
could “google for hours looking for gossip, tidbits, spoilers and hints as to what is going to happen”
(Ahrens, 2005).
ABC has always contributed significantly to the amount of material on Lost which is available
online. On the show’s official website76, fans can watch full episodes of the series, interviews with
the actors and creators of the show, access to behind-the-scenes information, and download
hundreds of pictures. Furthermore, they can also listen to the Official Lost Podcasts, get in touch
with other fans of the series in the forums, or read the character’s biographies (see Appendix 4:
Content of Lost Official Website.).
Before The Lost Experience was launched, ABC had already employed some unconventional
approaches for promoting the show. Thus, as a part of the online marketing strategy for Lost, the
network had created a number of fake websites which claimed to be the official sites of some of the
characters and organisations featured in the show (Ahrens, 2005). For instance, ABC had created
http://www.oceanic-air.com/, a phony website of the fictional organisation Oceanic Airlines, the
company responsible for the plane crash that takes the characters to the mysterious island (Ahrens,
2005).
Encouraged by the experience with the site for Oceanic Airlines, the creators of Lost decided to go a
step further (ABC News, 2006). As Mike Benson, senior vice president of marketing for ABC
Entertainment, explains: “What we discovered was that by creating additional content for this show,
we could create a marketing tool that would have fans more invested in the program, and if it was
cool they'd share with their friends” (ABC News, 2006). Thus, in 2006, ABC embarked in an
ambitious six-month marketing initiative, which was called The Lost Experience.
75
About Lostpedia: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Lostpedia:About
76
Available on URL: http://abc.go.com/shows/lost
86
3.2.2. The Lost Experience campaign
The Lost Experience was an alternate reality game (ARG) designed by the screenwriters and
producers of Lost in order to keep the audience engaged during the break between the second and
the third season of the show, which lasted from May to October 2006 (Miller, 2006; ABC
Entertainment, 2006; Disney ABC Group, 2006a). According to ABC, the project was “a
revolutionary interactive marketing endeavour”, “designed to further enhance viewers' relationship
with the program” (Disney ABC Group, 2006a).
But what is an ARG?
As the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) points out, ARGs are a form of
Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) (IGDA, 2006), since they are designed to attract
large scale audiences. However, while in any MMOG77 players enjoy the game through the figure
and evolution of an avatar, in an ARG players themselves are directly and actively involved with
the game. In order to make the experience meaningful, ARGs deny being a game and claim “to be
real” (IGDA, 2006) . In this type of games players are encouraged to explore a particular story,
solve plot-based challenges, and interact with game characters. Consequently, participants are
involved with the narrative of the ARG and its characters (IGDA, 2006).
Technology is essential for this type of games. ARGs use the Internet as their main platform, for
being an economical and effective way of making the players interact between them and share
information (IGDA, 2006). Nevertheless, although ARGs are Internet-based, elements from the
reality around the players are used during the game. Thus, a number of advertisements,
organisations, websites, telephone lines, and fictional characters are normally created exclusively
for the game experience (IGDA, 2006).
Overall, ARGs overlap the game world with reality by utilizing real media and delivering an
interactive narrative experience to the players. The genre is not just a new direction in gaming, but
also an evolution of media and creative narrative. ARGs are growing in popularity, with new games
77
The World of War would be an example of Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). The present study has
classified this form of social media as “online gaming”, and consider that its purpose is “entertainment”. See Appendix
1: Social Media Types.
87
appearing regularly (IGDA, 2006). ARGs tend to be free to play, with costs absorbed either through
supporting products, or because they support or promote an existing product (IGDA, 2006).
3.2.2.1.Key features of The Lost Experience
The present section reviews the main characteristics of The Lost Experience as (1) a global
campaign launched in 2006; (2) built by the creators of Lost; (3) aligned with the “essence” of the
series; (4) directed to both fans and non-fans of the show; and (5) designed as a multimedia
experience.
A world-wide campaign
The Lost Experience was developed by ABC in partnership with Channel 4 Television in the UK
and Seven Network in Australia (Disney ABC Group, 2006a)78. As The New York Times advanced
just when the campaign began: “broadcasters from around the world would release clues in a
variety of formats and that players would have to join forces online to solve them” (Miller, 2006).
A way of enlightening the viewers
Another key feature of The Lost Experience is that the game was not conceived by marketers but
the creators of the show (Miller, 2006). The Lost Experience operated as a way of discovering
information about two organisations that are crucial to the show: The Dharma Initiative79 and The
Hanso Foundation80 (Channel 4, 2007; Disney ABC Group, 2006b). As Carlton Cuse, executive
producer of Lost explains:
We sort of felt like the Internet Experience was a way for us to get out mythologies
that we would never get to include in the show. I mean, because this is mythology
that doesn’t have an effect on the character’s lives or existence on the island. We
78
See Appendix 4: ABC Group Press Release (25 April 2006).
79
The Dharma Initiative, also written DHARMA (Department of Heuristics and Research on Material Applications), is
a fictional research project featured in the television series. According to the show, The Dharma Initiative project was
carried out during the 1970s and 1980s on the same island in which the story takes place twenty years later. In the story,
the main characters will be finding the mysterious remains of the project during their stay on the island. Discovering the
mission of The Dharma Initiative will be one of the main challenges for the survivors of the plane crash (ABC, 2009).
80
The Hanso Foundation is the name of the organisation in charge of The Dharma Initiative, the mysterious project
which was carried out on the island. The majority of the information available about the The Hanso Foundation was
actually delivered to the fans of the show through The Lost Experience Project. Almost no information about The
Hanso Foundation is featured in the television series (ABC, 2009).
88
created it for purposes of understanding the world of the show but it was something
that was always going to be sort of below the water, sort of the iceberg metaphor,
and the Internet Experience sort of gave us a chance to reveal it (BuddyTV, 2007).
A narrative aligned with the show story
The narrative of the ARG was aligned with the mystery and uncertainty that characterises the Lost
series (Miller, 2006). Understanding of computer and mathematical coding, classical mythology
and cryptology were some of the abilities that were requested from the players in order to solve the
clues and make progress in the game (Channel 4, 2007). Therefore, collaboration between the
players was necessary. As Tracy Blacher, Head of Marketing New Media at Channel 4, points out:
There were days where I’d come in and there were hundreds of blogs reporting on
clues and being updated with information, gathering together a cold calling for
people with different skills sets, from Physics degrees to Maths (Channel 4, 2007).
A wide target
The Lost Experience campaign was designed to engage the viewers of the show in “a genuinely
innovative and creative way” (Disney ABC Group, 2006a). However, since the narrative of the
game was parallel to the main show, those who had not watched Lost before were also able to
participate (Disney ABC Group, 2006b). According to Tracy Blacher, the game was: “like a giant,
mysterious jigsaw puzzle that will come to life for all the world to solve, whether you are a fan of
the TV series, or not” (Channel 4, 2007).
A multimedia experience
Although The Lost Experience was Internet-based, clues and story content were not limited to the
online world (Disney ABC Group, 2006b). As in any other ARG, a wide variety of offline and
online formats were used: “The game, of a genre called alternate-reality games, is a multimedia
treasure hunt that makes use of e-mail messages, phone calls, commercials, billboards and fake
Web sites that are made to seem real” (Miller, 2006).
All the different online and offline media employed in each stage of the project will be described in
the following section.
89
3.2.2.2.The Lost Experience phases
The ARG The Lost Experience was mentioned for the first time in one of the official podcasts of the
show posted in March 2006 (ABC Entertainment, 2006), in which executive producers Damon
Lindelof and Carlton Cuse talked about the website of the fictional organisation The Hanso
Foundation. In the audio file, the producers of the show advanced to the fans the launch of “an
Internet experience” in May 2006 (ABC Entertainment, 2006), whose purpose was to “satisfy the
desire for new material on Lost during the summer” and that it was going to be “a path that will
lead to a lot of information about the show” that it would be helpful to understand the story (ABC
Entertainment, 2006)81.
According to Channel 4, The Lost Experience campaign could be divided into four two-month
phases, which lasted from May to October 2006 (Channel 4, 2007)82. In the following description of
The Lost Experience, the main online and offline media actions undertaken in the project will be
described.83
Phase 1: From May to June 2006
In the first stage of the project, several false commercials where aired in the three TV channels
participating in the experience: ABC (US), Channel 7 (Australia), y Channel 4 (UK) (Disney ABC
Group, 2006a). The videos, broadcasted during the commercial breaks of Lost, pretended to be a
short promotion of the fictional organisation The Hanso Foundation84. The commercials, which
were available in different versions, invited viewers to visit http://thehansofoundation.org/,
http://www.hansocareers.com, and http://letyourcompassguideyou.com, three websites that had
been specifically created for the experience85 (Channel 4, 2007). A phone number was displayed in
81
See Appendix 4: Transcript from an official ABC podcast (25 April 2006).
82
See Appendix 4: Transcription of the short documentary about The Lost Experience shown in Channel Four.
83
While conducting the present analysis, the researchers of this paper encounter information related to other media
supposedly created for The Lost Experience. However, such data was mainly User Generated Content (UGC) found in
Lost fan sites. Thus, the researchers of this paper opted for mentioning only those actions confirmed by the creators of
the experience in solid references. As mentioned in the text, the main online and offline media used in the project is
indeed described in the present paper.
84
See Appendix 4: Transcript of one of The Hanso Foundation commercials.
85
http://www.hansocareers.com, and http://letyourcompassguideyou.com are no longer available.
90
a different version of the commercials, which encouraged the audience to call in order to obtain
further information about the foundation.86
Image 7 and 8: Two captures of The Hanso Foundation commercials appeared on TV during May
2006.
On the websites, the participants were encouraged to find a number of clues that a fictional hacker,
called Rachel Blake, had hidden in them (Channel 4, 2007). Through her clues, Rachel let the
players know that she was determined to reveal the truth behind “the supposedly altruistic Hanso
Foundation”, and to locate its founder, Alvar Hanso (Channel 4, 2007).
During the first phase of The Lost Experience, ABC also launched the website
http://www.insidetheexperience.com in order to compile all the pieces of the puzzle that were found
by the participants, and make sure that all the participants were making progress at the same time
(IGDA, 2006).
Additionally, the figure of DJ Dan, who would support Rachel Blake´s anti-conspiracy initiative
during the whole project, was also created. During The Lost Experience, several podcasts
encouraging Rachel’s investigation will published on DJ Dan’s website, http://www.djdan.am/ (HiRes!, 2007; Disney ABC Group, 2006c)
Phase 2: From June to July 2006
In the second stage of the project, The Hanso Foundation website was shut down because,
apparently, the organisation had noticed the hacking activities of Rachel (Channel 4, 2007).
Nevertheless, an URL had been hidden within the remains of the site in order to be discovered by
86
0800 66 66 40 in the UK and 1 877 HANSORG in USA (See Appendix 4: Transcript of one of The Hanso
Foundation commercials).
91
the fans (Channel 4, 2007). The URL led the fans to http://stophanso.rachelblake.com and
http://rachelblake.com, two blogs kept by character Rachel Blake87 (Channel 4, 2007).
On her blogs, Blake displayed the video-diaries of her investigation on The Hanso Foundation
(Channel 4, 2007). A total of ten videos were created for this stage of the game. The videos showed
Rachel travelled many cities around the world, finding evidence about the terrible intentions of the
corporation and spying on the members of the board88.
Images 9 and 10: Captures of Rachel Blake video-diaries, published online during June and July 2006.
In the videos, the ARG players were also informed about Rachel’s background and her reasons for
investigating the organisation. After her mother’s death, Rachel found out that her education had
been paid by a mysterious Danish scientific organisation, called The Hanso Foundation. Intrigued
by this, Rachel began to investigate the corporation, realizing that they were involved in corruption.
Consequently, Rachel was determined to reveal all the truth behind the mysterious Hanso
Foundation, and wanted everyone to hear about it89.
Phase 3: From July to August 2006
The third stage of the project started when character Rachel Blake interrupted a press conference
offered by the actors of Lost in San Diego90. In her intervention, Rachel accused the actors of
87
http://stophanso.rachelblake.com and rachelblake.com websites are no longer available.
88
See Appendix 4: Links to Rachel Blake’s video-posts.
89
See Appendix 4: Links to Rachel Blake’s video-posts.
90
See Appendix 4: Rachel Blake interruption of the Lost Q&A panel hold in San Diego.
92
cooperating with The Hanso Foundation, and invited the audience to visit her new website:
http://www.hansoexposed.com91
Rachel Blake: You are protecting a very real, very dangerous organisation.
Actor: Look, it’s not real. It’s a television show.
Rachel Blake: It is real. The Hanso Foundation is real, The Dharma Initiative is
real, Dr. Mittelwerk is real and he’s doing terrible things. That’s real. ...
(continues)...and my name is Rachel Blake, and I am real! And if you want the truth
you’ll go to hansoexposed.com. (¶1-3)92
Image 11 and 12: Captures of Rachel Blake’s interruption of the Lost Q&A Panel at Comic-Con’06.
Rachel’s T-shirt displayed the URL www.hansoexposed.com.
In this phase of the project, the players were encouraged to find sixty different hieroglyphics which
had been hidden in a variety of online and offline media (Channel 4, 2007). Some of the gamerelated
websites,
such
as
http://rachelblake.com,
http://stophanso.rachelblake.com,
http://www.hansoexposed.com, http://www.djdan.am and http://www.insidetheexperience.com
contained hidden hieroglyphics in them. The hieroglyphics were also placed in outdoors locations,
such as Times Square in New York93.
Once that all the hieroglyphics were put together, the game players were able to watch the 11th
video recorded by Rachel and that revealed key information about The Dharma Initiative and The
91
http://www.hansoexposed.com is no longer available.
92
93
Available on URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73baMZMa2SU
93
Numbers94, two of the main mysteries for the followers of the TV show (Disney ABC Group,
2006b).
Image 13 and 14: Hieroglyphic found on DJ Dan’s website (Left), and hieroglyphic displayed at Times
Square in New York City (Right).
Phase 4: From August to September 2006
In the fourth stage of the project some special chocolate bars, called Apollo, were specifically
manufactured and distributed in selected stores all around the world (Channel 4, 2007). A website
was also created for the Apollo bars95, which have appeared several times in the TV show (Channel
4, 2007). On its website the fictional Apollo Candy Company claimed to be a subsidiary of The
Hanso Foundation (Channel 4, 2007).
Image 15 and 17: Apollo chocolate bars wrap (Left), and inside displaying the URL
“whereisalvar.com” (Right). Captures from the short documentary about The Lost Experience shown
in Channel Four. (Channel 4, 2007)
Each Apollo bars had an URL engraved on it: www.whereisalvar.com, named after Alvar Hanso,
founder of The Hanso Foundation, whose location Rachel Blake attempted to discover (Channel 4,
94
95
See Appendix 4: Transcript of Rachel Blake’s 11th video (aka Sri Lanka video).
www.apollocandy.com website is no longer available.
94
2007). Participants accessing to the site were given directions by Rachel Blake on how to upload a
picture of themselves with the bars. Rachel had promised that when enough participants had
uploaded their images, she would reveal further instructions (Channel 4, 2007).
Image 16: Overview of the website www.whereisalvar.com. The pictures uploaded by the fans with
their Apollo chocolate bars built the word “UNITE”. Capture of the short documentary about The
Lost Experience shown in Channel Four. (Channel 4, 2007)
Phase 5: From September to October 2006
ABC announced that the ARG The Lost Experience would come to an end on the 24th of September
2006, with a live radio Internet broadcast by DJ Dan” (Disney ABC Group, 2006c). During his
broadcast, DJ received a call from Rachel Blake, who announced she had posted her final video
online (Hi-Res!, 2007). Rachel’s video showed the conversation that Blake had with Alvar Hanso
when she found him. In the video, Hanso praised her heroism, confessed the bad intentions of The
Hanso Foundation, and revealed to Rachel that she was his daughter96.
Thus, Rachel Blake completed her investigation about the mysterious organisation with the help of
all the participants in the game. The ARG The Lost Experience was therefore finished. During the
course of the game, players have followed the adventures of Rachel, connected with other fans of
the television series, and gathered extra information about the background of key organisations in
the show.
96
See Appendix 4: Transcript of Rachel’s Blake Final Video (aka Norway Video).
95
Image 17: Screenshot of the homepage of DJ Dan’s website (Left), and capture of Alvar Hanso as
shown in the final video by Rachel Blake (Right).
3.2.3. After The Lost Experience
According to Channel 4, “Rachel was an amazing success”. At its zenith Google used to deliver
more than 6 million search results when searching for The Lost Experience (Channel 4, 2007).
Furthermore, only in the U.K. there were around 50,000 unique players participating, 50,000 unique
callers to the initial phone line (Phase 1 of The Lost Experience project), and more than 7 terabytes
of traffic per month (Channel 4, 2007).
Nevertheless, not only could The Lost Experience success be measured by the number of registered
players participating in the game, but also by all the user-generated-content which generated, such
as fan sites, blogs and forums. As Forde and Blacher explain (Channel 4, 2007):
...There was hundreds of podcasts put together. There was thousand and thousand of
blogs...It just kind of spiralled into this massive snowball of excitement. (Steve
Forde, New Media Marketing Manager at Channel 4).
I was blowing away on a daily basis by just how passionate were about what was
being created, and about how complex the mystery solving became. So there were
days where I’d come in and there were hundreds of blogs reporting on clues and
being updated with information (Tracy Blacher, Head of Marketing New Media at
Channel 4).
96
According to BusinessWeek, the online activity of the Lost community has only increased since The
Lost Experience: “dozens and dozens of blogs and chat forums sprang up, created by fans to share
theories” (Lowry, 2006)97. At the moment, Lost is present in the main social media platforms:

There is an official ABC-Lost channel on YouTube98, in which fans can watch the best
moments of the series, as well as interviews with the actors and the crew. Some other
YouTube channels totally run by fans of the show, such as Lost-Promos, sneak peeks,
recaps and more99, which in October 2009 counted with 7,197 subscribers.

ABC has also created a Twitter profile for the show100, which in October 2009 had 716
followers. The official Twitter page for Lost is, however, less successful than other ones
created by fans in the same platform, such as Lost_on_abc, which had 70,604 followers
registered in the same date101.

Lost is also present in Second Life, where there is a virtual island for the fans to gather
together102 (SL-Lost, 2007). Lost fans in Second Life have created their own online
community, called SL-Lost103, “because of a mutual interest in creating an entirely new fan
base, one that meets to discuss episodes of LOST in a virtual setting” (SL-Lost, 2007).
According to them, SL-Lost “It is a combination of people from all over the world with two
things in common: Second Life and being fans of the show LOST” (SL-Lost, 2007).

Additionally, Lost has its own official page on Facebook104. The page, which had more than
1 million of fans in October 2009, allows users to post comments, watch some videos on the
show, and engage in discussions with other fans of the series. Figure 4 shows some of the
fans’ comments, posted on Lost’s page on Facebook.
97
98
99
See Appendix 4: List of some Lost fan websites, blogs, and online communities.
Available on URL: http://www.youtube.com/abclost
Available on URL: http://www.youtube.com/user/campetin?blend=2&ob=4
100
Available on URL: http://twitter.com/LostOfficial
101
Available on URL: http://twitter.com/LOST_on_abc
102
Video which displays the Lost virtual island in Second Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoDGEhoXQCk
103
Available on URL: http://www.sl-lost.com/about-us/
Available on URL: http://www.facebook.com/LOST?v=wall&ref=search#/LOST?v=wall&ref=search
104
97
Jonathan Cabildo: I just started watching this last week! Awesome
show! *started season one at abc.com*
Posted on 22 Oct 09
Angela Perez: two months and lost will be back on air!! i really hope that
they make a movie or at least a tv movie. theres is a LOT of questions
unanswered. i dont think that season 6 will answer all of them. especially
why richard was choosen from his crew and doesn't age.
Posted on 22 Oct 09
Nancy Treto: why must we wait for so long for Lost to come back?!!
Posted on 22 Oct 09
Kim Robinson: i dont want it to end
Posted on 22 Oct 09
Donna Kisner-King LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE
THIS SHOW!!!!!!!
Posted on 22 Oct 09
Figure 4: Comments retrieved from Lost’s Facebook page in October 2009.
Since the series began, ABC has also employed innovative distribution approaches for Lost. As it
was mentioned previously, in the US Lost fans can watch the full episodes for free on the official
website of the show. In July 2006, few months after the initiative started, 11 million videos have
been streamed already (Lowry, 2006). Furthermore, Lost episodes can be downloaded online from
iTunes Store105, and thus watched in computers and media player devices, such as iPods. As
Michael Benson, Senior Vice-President for Marketing at ABC Entertainment, explains: “‘Lost’ is
like a candy store of marketing. We could have just done on-air promos and taken the occasional ad
105
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple Inc. since 2003. On iTunes Store,
users can purchase and download music, movies, TV shows, podcasts and audio-books
(http://www.apple.com/itunes/whats-on/).
98
in ‘TV Guide’. But we thought, 'What about TiVo, DVDs, the iPod, and the Internet?' They are all
huge opportunities to drive people back to TV” (Lowry, 2006).
In December 2007, ABC launched Find 815106, its second ARG related to the Lost series (Jensen,
2008). ABC worked in this project in collaboration with the Australian marketing agency Hoodlum
(Jensen, 2008; Hoodlum, 2007). The ARG lasted a total of five weeks, considerably less than The
Lost Experience (Hoodlum, 2007). The project consisted of a “global viral campaign” which
employed high definition video scenes, and also deployed “hidden clues and strategy games to draw
users into the mystery” (Hoodlum, 2007). Find 815 was one of the finalists in the Creative Arts
Emmy Awards 2008 for the “Interactive Media” category (Academy of Television Arts & Science,
2008). According to Hoodlum (2007), “‘Find815’ provoked an incredible response from the blog
world, with users analysing every inch of the game for clues and sharing their findings. By the end
of the online drama Find815 had built a large and dedicated global fan base of registered users”
(Hoodlum, 2007).
106
ARG Find 815 is now over, its official website was http://www.find815.com/
99
4. DISCUSSION
4.1. Nike+ online community and The Lost Experience through the postmodern lens
The present section discusses the two cases analysed in Chapter 3 in relation with the literature
reviewed in Chapter 2. Relevant aspects of the use of social media in the Nike+ community and The
Lost Experience campaign will be commented, and then related to the main conditions of
postmodernity.
4.1.1. Social media marketing strategies
The Nike+ community and The Lost Experience campaign can be considered social media
marketing initiatives. As the digital marketing company iCrossing state: (1) they allow users to
participate in the creation of the content; (2) they offer easy to access information; (3) they
facilitate conversation and community formation; (4) they link to other websites, posts, and articles;
and (5) they provide connectedness (iCrossing, 2007). Briefly, both Nike Inc. and ABC employed
Internet-based strategies for marketing purposes.
Overall, both social media marketing initiatives characterise by focusing on building relationships
with their users, employing the Internet as an umbrella, encouraging the creation of communities,
and being based on partnerships between two or more companies.
Establishing relationships
Through their social media marketing initiatives, the companies did not pursue to sell any product
directly, but to “create good positive word-of-mouth and buzz, and engage people” into “a
communication process together with Nike” (Ives, 2004; Notaro, 2008; Oser, 2004) and “designed
to further enhance viewers' relationship with the program” in the case of Lost (Disney ABC Group,
2006a). In both cases the consumer, and not the product, was the centre of the relationship. The
Lost Experience and the Nike+ community supplied the corporations with an international fan
100
community and “a global jogging club” respectively, since they managed to provide consumers
with relevant content and an online environment in which they enjoyed participating in (Weber,
2007). As Nussbaum (2007) explains:
The key is to build a wide community space about something important to people
and give them the tools to communicate and create their own stuff. Sure, have your
product/service/ whatever there for people to see and perhaps choose but don’t
“sell” them. You can’t hard sell consumers any more. You must now establish a
relationship with people, partner with them, co-create with them. Nike+ does all
that. And the site looks great too (Nussbaum, 2007).
Internet as an umbrella
Although strongly complemented with analogue media, the Nike+ community and ARG The Lost
Experience were Internet-based marketing initiatives. In both cases, the Internet was the core of the
marketing strategy followed, the hub in which all the marketing actions undertaken converged, and
the space were consumers could take their consumption experience a step further. Overall, all the
communication actions carried out in the two campaigns were integrated under an Internet
umbrella. For instance, the activity of the Nike+ community has been also reinforced with a number
of events, such as the annual Human Race. Although the interaction between the members of the
Nike+ community takes place mainly on the Internet, users gather together in more than 30 cities all
around the world in order to run collectively.
In particular, The Lost Experience campaign illustrates very well how companies can combine a
wide range of online and analogue media in order to build a marketing strategy. ABC chose to
implement an alternate reality game (ARG) in order to engage the participants with the television
series. As an ARG, The Lost Experience was Internet-based, but also designed as a cross-media
endeavour. The campaign used an innovative mix of media for the campaign, which included TV
commercials, telephone line, live appearance of fictional characters, a number of events, and even
chocolate bars. The Internet was the binding medium of the whole experience, since the analogue
media employed continuously referred the players to the cyberspace. Thus, the TV commercials
aired
in
May
2006
http://www.hansocareers.com,
Similarly,
character
Rachel
invited
and
viewers
to
visit
http://thehansofoundation.org/,
http://letyourcompassguideyou.com
Blake
suggested
players
to
visit
(Channel
the
4,
2007).
website
http://
www.hansoexposed.com during her interruption of the press conference in San Diego; and the
Apollo Chocolate bars distributed during the fourth phase of the campaign had the URL address
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whereisalvar.com engraved on them (Channel 4, 2007). Overall, The Lost Experience game fits
completely with Jaokar et al. definition of social media marketing as “an interaction with a set of
online social media conversations from marketing perspective, based on converged media (since
conversations can span both technologies and the media)” (Jaokar et al., 2009).
Community creation
Before conducting such ambitious projects, both Nike Inc. and ABC had already explored the
potential of social media and observed customer online activities and behaviours. Therefore, the
organisations were conscious of the existence of online communities around their products, and
opted for carrying out a social media marketing initiative in order to recruit more members,
reinforce the sense of community, and improve customer relationships. Thus, Lost fans had a high
level of activity on the Internet, and had created much user-generated-content about the show since
its beginning. Consequently, social media became the main tool that ABC, Channel 4 and Channel
7 decided to employ for The Lost Experience campaign. Through their initiative, the networks
attempted to increase losties or lostaways engagement during the break between two seasons of the
show.
The case of the Nike+ community also exemplifies the creation of an online community around a
brand and a product. Before building the platform for the Nike+ community, Nike had already
tested the Internet as a medium through the Art for Speed blog, a viral campaign on YouTube, and
Joga.com. In particular, the success of Joga.com, the online community for soccer lovers,
demonstrated to Nike the high potential of social media as a tool to engage current and potential
consumers in a conversation together with the company. Therefore, in 2006 Nike opted for a virtual
community strategy in order to promote the range of products associated to the Nike+ line: the
Nike+ sensor, the Nike+ iPod kit, and the Nike+ SportBand. Essentially, through the creation of a
web-based community, the organisation added functional, social and entertainment values to its
products. Thus, the Nike+ community provides its members with all the values that Sicilia &
Palazón (2008) locate in virtual communities:
a) A functional value: participants in the Nike+ community are provided with the innovative
possibility of transforming intangible data, such as the kilometres run or the calories burnt,
into shareable information. Therefore, the unique characteristics of the Nike+ products are
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reinforced by the Nike+ community, which helps users to expand their experience. Rather
than limiting the use of the products to the time they are exercising, users can store their
data electronically when they arrive home and keep track of their progress.
Apart from those original features, the Nike+ community contains a high amount of useful
information for runners. In the Nike+ community members have access to very specific and
practical knowledge, which is provided through (1) a number of infomercials on how to use the
different Nike devices or shop the right running equipment; and (2) the participation in the online
forums, in which users are allowed to ask questions and give feedback to fellow members.
Additionally, participants in the community can also access to several jogging routes and maps, as
well as detailed information on Nike+ events and competitions all around the world.
b) A social value: in the Nike+ community users can obtain support from other members of the
Nike running community, challenge and compete with each other, receive advice and
motivation, and socialise with others. The social aspect of the Nike+ community is very
important. The virtual relationships with like-minded people can motivate Nike+ users to
run more and, consequently, to keep using Nike products. The factors are interrelated:
because they are able to interact with each other and share their results, users are motivated
and continue exercising and participating in the community.
c) An entertainment value: the functional and social values of the Nike+ community contribute
to make the experience of the users more enjoyable. Thus, the members of the community
can spend hours online, socialising and gathering information about the practise of running.
Furthermore, the community also counts with a number of entertaining elements, such as (1)
desktop widgets and ‘scrapable’ media; (2) the possibility of building the mini version of a
runner; and 3) the option to connect a Nike+ profile to a Twitter or Facebook account.
First, the formation of the Nike+ community helped to establish a two-way communication process
between the company and its customers. From a social media perspective, the content of the Nike+
community can be considered high-quality since: (1) it balances professional and customergenerated content (Weber, 2007); (2) it is not just an “egocentric display of products and services”,
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but it focuses on the customers and their problems (Scott, 2007); 3) it provides information
(Mangold & Faulds, 2009); 4) it is delivered to consumers when they need it, not just when it is
broadcasted as traditional advertising (Scott, 2007).
Second, the Nike+ community contributes to customer-to-customer communication and to the
creation of a community around a brand. The communal aspect of Nike+ is very relevant from a
postmodern perspective. The Nike+ community meets both the individualistic and communal needs
of postmodern consumers. The Nike+ users can practice exercise on their own, and share their
experience with others when they arrive home. Thus, the community allows its users to enjoy their
own individualism, while running ‘virtually’ with others. Nike customers are not running alone any
longer, because they are sharing their experience with others.
Tribal elements
The social media strategies carried out by Nike and ABC were not directed at massive audiences. In
both cases, the companies focused on engaging specific groups of consumers. Consequently, the
Nike + community and The Lost Experience presented a number of communal symbols and signs of
identification which attempted to reinforce the sense of community amongst their members. In
particular, the Nike+ and the Lost communities presented certain tribal characteristics, which as
Cova (1997) points out, refer “to the re-emergence of quasi-archaic values” (p. 300) in the context
of postmodernity.
Thus, in The Lost Experience:

Participants were encouraged to join forces against a common ‘enemy’, represented by The
Hanso Foundation, and guided by the figure of a ‘leader’, symbolised by character Rachel
Blake.

The community counted with a very specific and unique set of skills. As it was mentioned
previously, understanding of computer and mathematical coding, classical mythology and
cryptology were some of the abilities that were requested from the players in order to solve
the clues and make progress in the game (Channel 4, 2007).

A secret code was developed for the community. A number of hieroglyphics were created
and placed in different locations in the online and offline world, forcing individuals to share
their findings. Hieroglyphics represent the writing system, the private code, of a culture.
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Normally surrounded by mystery due to their encrypting nature, the hieroglyphics
strengthened the tribal values of the Lost community.
Similarly, members of the Nike+ community share a common sub-culture:

In order to be part of the group, some objects (Nike products) are necessary. The Nike+
sensor, the Nike+ iPod kit or the Nike+ SportBand, and the Nike shoes could be seen as the
sacred objects or symbols which provide access to the community. As Cova points out, “by
paying, the postmodern individual can build an identity for themself with cultural
references (The French Doctors, Bosnia, Somalia), but also sporting references (the
complete outfit of the OM supporter) and, in fact, all possible references” (p. 305). The
complete kit of Nike + products is the sporting reference that helps Nike consumers to build
an identity for themselves, as well as their sense of belonging to a community.

Additionally, the Nike+ community present certain rituals of consumption, which take the
shape of 1) the daily exercise performed by the members while consuming Nike+ products;
and 2) the multiple marathons and sports events attended by the users of Nike+.

As Chapter 3 has shown, the marathons organised by Nike act as the official ceremonies for
the members of the community, who dress in the same colour and run through the streets of
several cities as a Nike ‘legion’. The participants even paint their faces with the colours of
their national flags in order to express their commitment.
As Cova (1996) and Simmons (2008) point out, postmodern individuals aspire to be distinguish
themselves from the rest and feel unique while, at the same time, they aim to connect with likeminded people. Nike and ABC developed social media experiences which met both the
individualistic and the communal needs of their consumers. The Nike+ community and The Lost
Experience would be highly valued by consumers because “through their linking value, permit and
support social interaction of the communal type” (Cova, 1997, p. 305). They act as “the social glue”
(Simmons, 2008, p. 305) between the members of the Nike+ community and Lost fans. The sense
of community is also reinforced by the use of the language and the creation of images. Thus, in the
homepage of the Nike+ community is possible to read the slogan ‘Together we run’, and the
pictures uploaded by participants of The Lost Experience with their chocolate bars formed the word
“UNITE”.
Establishment of partnerships
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None of the initiatives, the Nike+ community and The Lost Experience were undertaken uniquely
by one company. Nike and ABC opted for building partnerships with other organisations in both
cases. Thus, Nike developed the line of Nike+ products in collaboration with Apple, and the
creation of the Nike+ community was part of Nike’s tasks in the agreement (McClusky, 2009;
Gregory, 2007), which as Gregory (2007) points out, set an example of partnership between “the
world's top sporting-goods brand with the world's most beloved gadget107” (Gregory, 2007).
Similarly, The Lost Experience was developed by ABC in partnership with Channel 4 Television in
the UK and Seven Network in Australia (Disney ABC Group, 2006a). Undoubtedly, the
collaboration between the networks contributed to the global reach of the campaign.
Through the establishment of partnerships with other reliable brands, the organisations reinforced
the power of the initiatives, potentially increased the number of consumers reached, and went a
stepped further in the achievement of “trust”, which is a very important element for postmodern
consumers (Giddens, 1991).
4.1.2.
The postmodern conditions
Hyperreality
Nike provided its customers with a platform in which a cyberculture could emerge within a
network-based community, and satisfy the communal needs of its postmodern users (Firat &
Venkatesh, 1995, p. 253). From a postmodern perspective, the Nike+ community is a virtual reality,
an artificially-constructed place where users interact with each other. In the context of Nike+
community, consumer-to-consumer communication takes place mainly in the cyberspace, although
some offline interactions occur when community members meet at the sports events organised in
order to complement the marketing strategy.
The hyperreal factor is especially visible in the case of The Lost Experience. As it was mentioned
previously, one of the main characteristics of the ARG was that the game claimed to be real. A nondistinction between reality and fiction have always characterised the marketing communications of
Lost. Thus, before The Lost Experience began in May 2006, ABC had already created other fake
107
Apple’s iPod.
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websites such as the one dedicated to the fictional organisation Oceanic Airlines. According to
ABC, it was the success of such an unorthodox marketing tool that encouraged them to venture into
a project like The Lost Experience.
Thus, ABC, Channel 4 and Channel 7 used a number of traditional communication channels,
created different websites, and employed actors in order to recreate the fictional world of a
television series. Apart from the television commercials and the corporate website of The Hanso
Foundation, the Apollo chocolate bar was another element which was extracted from the fictional
universe of Lost and placed into the reality. As Firat and Venkatesh (1995) point out, “an aspect of
hyperreality is the inclination or willingness among members of the culture to realize, construct,
and live the simulation” (p. 252). Through The Lost Experience, ABC and its partners help Lost
fans submerged themselves in a constructed world, based on their favourite show, that blurred the
limits between the real and non-real.
Overall, ABC recreated the world of Lost and simulated, with the help of all the participants, that
the narrative of the show was real. The peak of the non-distinction between fiction and reality took
place when Rachel Blake interrupted a press conference that the actors of Lost were holding in San
Diego. A fictional character, which until then had only existed in the virtual world of the game,
stepped into the reality of the participants and materialised in front of all the attendees at the event
in order to prove that ‘she was real’:
Rachel Blake: You are protecting a very real, very dangerous organisation.
Actor: Look, it’s not real. It’s a television show.
Rachel Blake: It is real. The Hanso Foundation is real, The DHARMA Initiative is
real, Dr. Mittelwerk is real and he’s doing terrible things. That’s real. ...
(continues)...and my name is Rachel Blake, and I am real! And if you want the truth
you’ll go to hansoexposed.com. (¶1-3)108
Fragmentation
The Lost Experience was conceived as “a giant, mysterious jigsaw puzzle” (Channel 4, 2007)
whose pieces had to be put together by the participants in the ARG. Thus, the information necessary
to progress in the game was provided to the players via a number of multimedia actions, which
comprised TV commercials, phone calls, a number of fake blogs and websites, video-podcasts, and
billboards. Furthermore, The Lost Experience did not have an official site on the Internet which
108
107
could centralise all the data related to the ARG, and the information about the game spread all over
the cyberspace. The fragmented condition of the game was evident during the third phase of the
campaign, when the 11th video posted by Rachel Blake109 was divided in sixty fragments which had
a number of hieroglyphics assigned to them. Participants in The Lost Experience had to find and
gather all the hieroglyphics, located in all types of media platforms and physical locations all
around the world, in order to watch the complete video.
According to Firat and Venkatesh (1995), fragmentation means “the breaking up into parts and
erasing of the whole, single reality into multiple realities, all claiming legitimacy, and all
decoupling any link to the presumed whole” (p. 253). In postmodernity, fragmentation affects all
activities and aspects of live, experience, society and metanarratives. ARG The Lost Experience
encouraged players to explore offline and online media simultaneously and accept that the
information was “disjointed” in the form of images (hieroglyphics and billboards), videos (TV
commercials and video-podcasts), audio (podcasts), objects (chocolate bars), websites, and events
(Lost press conference interrupted by Rachel Blake). The Lost Experience was aligned with the
intrigue which characterises Lost, but also contributed to clarify some of the mysteries of the show.
The campaign encouraged the theorisation about the story and contributed to fill in some of the
information gaps that fans might have.
Reversal of production and consumption
The reversal of production and consumption is one of the main conditions of postmodernity. As
Gregory (2007) states, “in the past, the product was the end point of the consumer experience …
Now it's the starting point”. In postmodernity the limits between consumption and production are
blurred, since users actively produce symbols and signs during their consumption activities (Firat &
Venkatesh, 1995). Participants in The Lost Experiece were provided with a high amount of content
about Lost, which facilitated the creation of completely customised experiences. Moreover,
participants in the game were not passive subjects seated in front of the computers, but had to play
actively in order to progress in the game. Thus, players had to hunt for clues, interact with each
other, and discuss about their next steps.
Similarly, Nike+ users are not only producing data during their consumption of the Nike+ products,
but also through their membership at the Nike+ community. Thus, members of the online
109
Also known as the Sri Lanka video (See Appendix 4: Transcript of Rachel Blake’s 11th video).
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community are contributing to create a big puzzle, composed of all the individual profiles of the
users. From a marketing perspective, participants in the Nike+ community are voluntarily
contributing to the creation of an enormous database. The virtual community could be seen as a
very valuable database, which stores information about the consumption activities of its users and
their preferences, motivations, habits, aims and desires. Thus, through the community Nike found
out, for example, that Sunday is the day of the week when most people go out to run; that during the
winter users in Europe and Africa run longer distances than the ones in US; or that Black Eyed
Peas’ “Pump it” is the favourite song of the members (McClusky, 2009). The community allows
Nike to obtain personal information about their customers and direct feedback about their products,
which can be transformed into useful statistics or provide an exact picture of a particular customer
at the same time. The Nike+ community acts, therefore, as a precise marketing tool for both tribal
marketing and one-to-one marketing. As marketing agency R/GA states, “Nike Plus creates a
completely new category where the product, the online experience and marketing are inseparable”
(R/GA, 2007b, p. ¶4).
Decentred subject
According to Firat and Venkatesh (1995), “given the suspicion that the subject was never the centre
or in control, and coupled with the intention to free the subject (oneself) from commitment,
postmodernism embraces the confusion (or the fusion) between the subject and the object” (p. 254).
The Nike+ community exemplifies the confusion between the subject and the object, the
postmodern individuals’ dependence of machines and technology to comprehend the world around
them. As it was mentioned previously, Nike+ sensor, Nike+ iPod kit or Nike+ SportBand, and Nike
shoes are the objects which provide access to the Nike+ community. Consequently, Nike+ users
depend completely from Nike+ products in order to socialise with like-minded people.
Additionally, it is the ability of the product/machine to convert analogue information, such as the
calories burnt and the kilometres run, that allows users to have access to the utilitarian, social and
entertaining values that the Nike+ community provides. First, the runners depend on the ability of
the gadgets to generate information to monitor their workouts and lately share the data with other
members of the community. Second, the users depend on the Nike+ community, as an Internetbased platform, to store their data, check their progress, interact with other runners, and get
informed on running events.
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Nike+ users depend on the performance of some product/machines because a development of
technology, such as an improvement in the features of the gadgets or a faster Internet connection,
will provide them with the ability to produce and process more information in less time. In other
words, a better the performance of the gadgets will imply a better integration of the consumers in
the online community, a higher fulfilment of their communal needs, and a better understanding of
its (hyper)reality. In a globally connected world, the fact that individuals are running with a chip in
their shoes and later summiting that information online, blurs the limits between their bodies and
the machines. McClusky (2009) refers to it as “Living by Numbers- the ability to gather and
analyze data about yourself, setting up a feedback loop that we can use to upgrade our lives, from
better health to better habits to better performance.” From a marketing perspective, the consumer
and the product become one in the Nike+ experience.
Juxtaposition of opposites
As Firat and Venkatesh state (1995), pastiche is “the underlying principle of juxtaposition” (p 252).
The fragmentation of ARG The Lost Experience, which has been described above, is an example of
a pastiche of media initiatives that creates a fictional narrative. The game was designed “like a
giant, mysterious jigsaw puzzle” (Channel 4, 2007) that the participants had to solve. Consequently,
the content of the ARG was spread throughout a wide range of platforms and media, such as
podcasts, websites, blogs, videos, TV commercials, and billboards. Nevertheless, The Lost
Experience characterised by employing fragmentation and, at the same time, seeking unification.
Although the ARG used pastiche and fragmented media as core elements of their marketing
strategy, the game also encouraged the participants of the game to gather all the clues and build a
complete message.
Additionally, both initiatives combined the communal and the personal experiences together. As it
was mentioned previously, the Nike+ community satisfy both the individualistic and the communal
needs of its members. In the Nike+ community, two opposite aspects of the same product co-exist
together in harmony, balancing the experience of the postmodern user. From a marketing
perspective, the community operates between two different approaches: one-to-one marketing and
tribal marketing. Thus, the Nike+ community allows the company to obtain individual information
about the consumers, who register themselves and upload information about their use of the Nike+
products and discuss about all variety of topics in the forums, such as the functionality of the
products or their general interests. At the same time, through the online community the organisation
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obtains direct feedback from its customers, as well as data analytics and statistics, which can be
very useful for product development and marketing purposes. Thus, the qualitative and quantitative
data that Nike gathers through the Nike+ community helps the organisation to adjust its strategy
according to consumers’ preferences, and customise the messages directed to both individuals and
groups of consumers.
Chapter conclusion
The Nike+ community and The Lost Experience characterised by focusing on building relationships
with their users, employing the Internet as an umbrella, encouraging the creation of communities,
and the establishment of partnerships. Social media helped Nike and ABC to cope with some of the
main problems that postmodernity has brought to them, such as the problem with traditional
segmentation techniques (chaos) and consumer contradictions (confusion and complexity).
As it was mentioned previously, markets are becoming too fragmented and traditional marketing
segmentation techniques, such as geographic or demographical segmentation, are no longer
effective. In today’s world consumers group themselves regarding their preferences and interests
(Weber, 2007; Cova, 1997; Grönroos, 2007). Social media provided Nike and ABC with virtual
platforms, in which consumers register and volunteer information about themselves. Thus, their
successful social media marketing initiatives attracted users to compelling virtual environments
which have been created for marketing purposes. Rather than selling their products, Nike and ABC
focus on building relationships with consumers. Therefore, attracted by the possibility of obtaining
the functional, social and entertaining values of the marketing initiatives, consumers agreed on
establishing a two-way communication process with Nike and the networks responsible for The
Lost Experience, as well as on facilitating to the company valuable information in the form of web
analytics and statistics.
Furthermore, social media allowed Nike and ABC to address the needs of postmodern consumers
due to its flexibility and intrinsic characteristics. Thus, through the social media marketing
initiatives the companies:

Established a two-way communication process between the companies and its customers,
while allowing users to communicate between them (customer-to-customer).

Addressed both the individual and communal needs of the users.
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
Added extra value to their products. In particular, functional, social and entertaining values.

Reflected the postmodern conditions highlighted by Firat and Venkatesh (1995) and,
therefore, spoke to the users in ‘their own language’: hyperreality, fragmentation, reversal of
production and consumption, decentred subject, and juxtaposition of opposites.

Multiplied their possibilities of achieving consumer trust, due to their focus on building
relationships with their customers and their partnerships with other big brands.
4.2. Theoretical foundation for the relationship between social media marketing and
postmodernity
In this section, a theoretical foundation for the interrelation between social media marketing and the
postmodern approach to marketing is discussed. First, based on literature review in Chapter 2.
Literature review, an academic definition of social media marketing is provided. Second, the
relationship between social media and postmodernity is analysed. Lastly, some recommendations
for companies which attempt to implement a social media marketing strategy are proposed.
4.2.1. Defining social media marketing
Before building a conceptual framework for social media marketing, it is necessary to establish a
single definition of social media. Taking into consideration the main elements of the medium, as
well as the definitions presented in Chapter 2 (Solis & Breakenridge, 2009; iCrossing, 2007;
Demopoulos, 2006; Maymann, 2008), the authors of the present study propose the following
definition:
Social media is an online medium, which allows users of the Internet to become
active producers of the content available online, by allowing them to interact with
each other, create and exchange all kinds of data and, in the long term, cause the
democratization of the information and media.
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In order to provide a theoretical foundation for social media marketing, the authors of this thesis put
forward the following propositions:
P1: Although in social media marketing the Internet becomes the main channel employed for an
organisation’s marketing communication activities, the medium is normally complemented with the
use of analogue media.
As Chapter 3 has shown, Nike and ABC employed the Internet as the main platform for their
marketing and communication purposes. In order to get the full Nike+ experience, runners have to
visit the online community, upload the data from their workouts, and interact with other users. In
the case of The Lost Experience, the offline activities which supplemented the initiative always
redirected participants to the cyberspace.
Thus, the Internet becomes the main channel for marketing and communication activities used by a
company in social media marketing. The most commonly used communication channels in the past
are now integrated under the umbrella of the Internet. Nevertheless, as the case studies conducted
have shown, a social media marketing strategy which limits its reach to the online world is not
enough. It becomes crucial to place references to the online activity of a company in the real world.
Therefore, it is becoming more and more common to find references to the online activities of a
company in traditional marketing communications activities, such as advertising. For example,
almost two-thirds of the commercials shown during Super Bowl110 in 2006 invited viewers to visit
the website of the advertised companies (Weber, 2007).
Companies need to reinforce their online initiatives in the real world by finding a way to redirect
consumers to the Internet. From this perspective, traditional one-way communication channels will
help catch the attention of the consumers and persuade them to go online. Then, once a part of the
target audience gets in touch with the online activities of the company, social media will contribute
to build relationships and establish dialogue with them.
110
Super Bowl is The National Football league in the US, which is the most watched broadcasted show in America
(Stelter, 2009)
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P2: In social media marketing companies pursue to establish a dialogue with consumers, who
become the core of the communications strategy.
Social media should not be simply considered another communication channel available for
organisations, since special knowledge is required to meet the expectations of the users.
The presented case studies showed that social media marketing strategy are created to engage
consumers through (1) playful experiences, such as being a part of an ARG game in The Lost
Experience, or challenge each other in the Nike+ community; (2) socialization, which is achieved
through sharing experiences in the Nike+ community, or helping each other to find clues about the
television series Lost; and (3) extra value in the consumption process, such as a tool which
motivates users to exercise more, or discover further information about their favourite show.
The Lost Experience campaign and Nike+ encouraged communication between the two companies
and their customers. In the case of Lost, the creators of the show were waiting for the players to
gather all the hidden clues before releasing the new ones. They were also keeping the track on how
the clues were traced and solved. Similarly, Nike has always encouraged its community to provide
feedback through the forums, or by using the “feedback” button on every page of the website.
Olander (2008) claims that before implementing any changes or innovations on the community,
Nike always considered them first from a customers’ perspective. Additionally, it could be claimed
that the companies were not only promoting their products, but the opportunity to become a
member of the biggest running or an international fan community.
Hence, traditional marketing approaches111 are very unlikely to be accepted by Internet users
because they expect honesty, transparency, openness, and ability to participate in the dialogue on
the platform of social media112. As a result, interaction and two-way communication with users are
crucial for social media marketing. A company’s marketing communication should go beyond the
utilitarian value of the product, and provide customers with experiential or/and social values (Firat
& Dholakia, 2006), as well as compelling environments in which they can interact among them.
This positions a consumer to the centre of the marketing strategy, as opposed to traditional
marketing approaches in which companies are product-centric and focus on “pushing” marketing
strategies and on the act of purchase (Firat & Dholakia, 2006).
111
See Weber’s description of “Old marketing” (Weber, 2007), and the definition of marketing provided by The
American Marketing Association.
112
See “the code of conduct” of the blogosphere in section 2.2.4.1.
114
P3: The core elements of social media marketing are 1) providing extra value to consumers through
engagement in the communication process, and 2) concentrating on building the relationship with a
customer.
Nike succeeded in creating an online community and provided its users with utilitarian, social and
entertaining value through the creation of an engaging social media platform. The fact that Nike
strived to create an online community also proves that the company was not expecting fast and
short-term profits from the initiative (Olander, 2008). Instead, Nike has concentrated on building
long-term relationships with its consumers.
Consequently, relationship marketing (Brogan & Smith, 2008; Grönroos , 2007; Weber , 2007)
plays a major role in social media marketing, since the customer becomes the centre of the
communication process. Companies should encourage the creation of a long-term bond with their
consumers, and keep in mind that the relationships with them start at the moment they visit a
company’s website or social media application. Therefore, providing visitors with a reason to come
back to the site should be the goal from the very beginning.
The fact that the participants in The Lost Experience enjoyed collaborating with each other in order
to solve the clues, contributed to the success of the campaign. The initiative required high consumer
involvement and communication in order to find all the pieces of the puzzle and make progress in
the game. Thus, from a consumer’s point of view, social media offers not only the opportunity to
engage into dialogue with a company, but it also supports customer-to-customer communication
(Mangold & Faulds, 2009), and it offers the possibility of becoming member of a virtual
community (Rheingold, 1993; Sicilia & Palazón, 2008).
Consequently, users join social media groups, in which they can contact people with the same
specific interests than them, such as photography (Flickr community), motorbikes (HarleyDavidson community), or music (Last.fm community). At the same time, micro-communities are
easily found within those social media platforms. Thus, users can join a group of fans of hip-hop
music on MySpace, a fashion photography group on Flickr, or a group of vegetarian people on
Facebook. With such big variety of choices, it becomes rather impossible to control all the content
which is available about a company online.
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Based on the definition of relationship marketing provided by Grönroos (2007), as well as the three
aforementioned propositions developed, Weber’s (2007) model of “New marketing” (see Table 5),
and the initial working definition by Jaokar et al. (2009)113, the authors of the study propose the
following definition of social media marketing:
Social media marketing is any Internet-based initiative, which is conducted by an
organisation for marketing purposes, allows users to participate in the creation of
the content and facilitates conversation and community formation. Social media
marketing focuses on the process of building and maintaining relationships with
current and potential customers, as well as any other stakeholder groups on the
Internet. Therefore, consumers are made the centre of the marketing communication
strategy and continuously involved in a two-way communication process with the
organisation.
4.2.2.
Social media marketing: the connection between postmodern individuals and
organisations
In social media marketing certain postmodern conditions become relevant, such as hyperreality,
fragmentation, the reversal of consumption and production, and the juxtaposition of communal and
individualistic experiences.114
Reality and hyperreality
Reality is created and constructed by an individual, and is based neither on logical reasoning nor on
rationalism. Thus, postmodern human beings form their reality through consumption, which helps
them to create their own meanings and truth.
113
As it was mentioned previously, the application of social media to marketing purposes of organisations has been
named “social media marketing”. The initial definition of social media marketing proposed by Jaokar et al., (2009) was:
“an interaction with a set of online social media conversations from marketing perspective, based on converged media
(since conversations can span both technologies and the media).”
114
Summarized from (Addis & Podesta, 2005) (Christensen et al., 2005) (Cova, 1996) (Cova & Cova, 2002) (Firat &
Venkatesh, 1995) (Gergen, 1995) (McCracken, 1986) (Simmons, 2008) (see section 2.1).
116
The Lost Experience campaign diminished the line between real and non-real, since its participants
were drawn in playing and searching for clues in order to get information about a fictional story,
and a real press conference was interrupted by fictional character Rachel Blake. Similarly, the
Nike+ community binds people with a hyperreal experience, which is based on the exercise that
they practise daily.
Social media provides companies with a platform in which they can construct and present hyperreal
experiences to postmodern consumers. Reality and hyperreality blend together on the medium.
Additionally, social media allows, “the separation of time and space” (Giddens, 1991). When it
comes to symbolism and hyperreality, social media allows postmodern human beings to see
themselves through an external lens. Thus, social media acts as a mirror, in front of which users can
work on their images. Consequently, in a social media environment, individuals and corporations
behave guided by the aspects they want to emphasize and hide about themselves to the “outside
world”. At the same time, the online activities carried out would influence the image that others
hold about an individual or a company. For example, Dell, Inc. decided to join the platform of
social media and launched their blog Direct2Dell115 in 2006 after having some troubles with their
image and customer service (Gillin, 2007).
Companies joining and participating actively in the blogosphere (and following “the code of
conduct” of the medium116) are suggesting to their consumers that they are open and transparent
organisations, not afraid of criticism and willing to listen to the opinion of their stakeholders.
Additionally, companies can shape their image by stressing certain aspects of themselves and
omitting others. For instance, Shell’s Climate change advisor David Hone created a blog which
covers issues related to climate change117 since the company attempts to stress its environmentally
friendly intentions (Bryant, 2009). Overall, social media contributes to shape multiple hyperreal
images of an organisation with the help if the users.
115
Available on URL: http://www.direct2dell.com/
116
See section 2.2.4.1.
117
Available on URL: http://blogs.shell.com/climatechange/
117
Image 18: Climate Change Advisor for Shell David Hone’s blog
Fragmentation
Regular categories do not work in postmodern society. The juxtaposition of the opposites is
becoming a norm. Apart from holding multiple identities at the same time, postmodern human
beings are not loyal to one brand, lifestyle or belief system. Thus, consumption experiences should
let differences subsist next to each other.
The Nike+ online platform allows users to engage in standardized activities, such as uploading
information from the Nike+ gear and storing the data about their trainings. Furthermore, it also
provides participants with the possibility of enjoying highly personalised content. In the Nike+
community, users can create their own profile and befriend with people that have similar
preferences regarding sports, training goals and music. Similarly, fragmentation was used as one of
the main elements of The Lost Experience campaign. ABC employed multimedia actions in order to
facilitate and increase involvement of the viewers in the game, as well as the TV show itself.
Social media applications allow users to maintain the multiple “masks” or “identities”, which are so
natural for postmodern individuals (Gergen, 1995). In social media applications users are allowed to
select the type of information about themselves that will be displayed on their networking profiles,
as well as to tailor that information to the purpose of an application. For instance, individuals can
demonstrate a more professional side of their personality on LinkedIn, while showing a more
118
sociable and personal “identity” on Facebook, or expressing their artistic-selves on the Flickr
community.
Similarly, through social media companies can also fragment their images, emphasise certain
aspects of themselves and omit others. For instance, a bar-restaurant-night club WOO, which is
located in Vilnius (Lithuania), has created its profile on Facebook118 (see Appendix 5). Thus, the
firm can network with its customers, and present the communal side of the bar, and emphasise its
‘social’ identity. On WOO’s Facebook profile not only the upcoming events are announced, but
also information that could be interesting to their customers. Thus, the statuses are constantly
updated, links to videos and articles are uploaded, the pictures from the events are shared, and
discussions with its customers are carried out. Apart from Facebook, the bar presents itself more
formally on its website119 and its blog120 (‘good place to party or lunch’ identity), in which the
company provides an event calendar, upload pictures of the venue, and announce its special offers.
Microblogging tool Twitter121 is used to inform the company’s customers about its special menus
(‘a place to have lunch’ identity), and social networking website’s MySpace profile122 to show its
‘musical identity’ and draw attention to the performances that are held in the club. Since WOO is a
bar, restaurant and night-club, all these different social media applications can help company to
target different types of the audience they want to attract to the bar, and provide the information and
‘identity’ relative to each of them.
Consumption and production
Consumption is a value-producing activity, which is inseparable from marketing and
communication. The most important part of consumption starts once the purchasing act has been
completed (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995; McCracken, 1986), and consumers attach their own meanings
to the consumed objects. The power balance between company and consumers has changed.
Companies are not able to control the meaning of the goods once it is in the markets, only shape it
through advertising and image marketing (McCracken, 1986).
118
Available on URL: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=635402404&ref=profile#/BabeRepublic?v=info&ref=ts
119
Available on URL: http://www.woo.lt/index.html
120
Available on URL: http://www.woo.lt/blog/
121
Available on URL: http://twitter.com/WooBarWoo
122
Available on URL: http://www.myspace.com/woobar
119
Nike+ sets a good example of how the most important part of consumption process starts only after
the purchase is completed: people gather in a virtual community to share and extend their
experience with a product, while creating their own meanings for the Nike brand. In the case of The
Lost Experience, customer’s experience comes first as well. The campaign opened new possibilities
to engage with the show in a personal manner and create their own reality and version of the
organisations in the show in the real life.
Thus, social media proves that the line between consumption and production becomes extremely
blurred in postmodernity. As it was mentioned previously, through the use of social media
applications postmodern individuals act not only as consumers, but also as producers of content.
Wikipedia is probably the best example of how people can create quality content themselves, and
become the producers of the information available online. According to the British journal Nature,
the social encyclopedia is almost as accurate as the well-established Encyclopedia Britannica (BBC
News, 2005). “Idea sharing sites” (see section 2.2.4.2) such as Dell’s IdeaStorm or Starbuck’s My
Starbucks Idea123, are another good example of the blurring line between consumption and
production which characterises social media, since users get involved into the product development
process and suggest ideas that are later implemented by the companies.
Another example of how consumers become producers in social media platform could be
withdrawn from viral marketing strategies, reviewed in section 2.2.4.5. First of all, consumers
generate WOM, they consume a marketing content, but also a successful viral marketing initiative
might lead to the production of consumer generated versions of marketing messages (for example,
Cadbury gorilla viral campaign on YouTube).
“Experiment #137”124 is an example of how companies can lose control over their brand meaning
online, and of how users can become active producers of the content. “Experiment #137”125 is a
video in which two friends mix the content of a pack of Mentos candies into a bottle of Diet Coke,
causing a fountain of soda to come out of the bottle due to a chemical reaction between the two
products (King, 2007). The video spread virally via YouTube, and had been viewed more than 10
million times by October 2009. From a post modern perspective, the video “Experiment #137” is an
123
See Appendix 5 for images.
124
Video is available at URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB0MHVBvM
125
Video is available at URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB0MHVBvM
120
example of consumers’ production, which can be referred as value-producing activity. In addition to
that, it was an unintentional attempt to shape the brand’s image of the two organisations involved,
which reacted in a different way towards the clip.
Image 1: Diet Coke and Mentos candy “Experiment #137”
According to King (2007), Mentos fully supported the idea and the producers of the video, yet
Coca-Cola was not that happy about it at the beginning: “We would hope people want to drink [Diet
Coke] more than try experiments with it … The craziness with Mentos…doesn't fit with the brand
personality of Diet Coke” (King, 2007). Nevertheless, the company retracted later, and decided to
add the clip to their websites http://www.coke.com/ and http://www.cocacola.com/, as well as
sponsored the release of the following videos (King, 2007).
Individualism and Community
As it was mentioned previously, although postmodern consumers are very individualistic, they also
have the strong need of belonging to a group of similar people. Consumption therefore works as a
means of differentiation from others, but also it is a source to be linked to others, due to the
symbolism that consumption objects provide (Cova & Cova, 2002).
As it can be withdrawn from the cases of The Lost Experience and Nike+, social media allows
companies to address two contradicting individualistic and communal needs of their consumers
simultaneously. On the one hand, Nike+ users may become members of the online community in
order to satisfy some of their individualistic needs, such as the need to exercise more and keep fit,
lose some weight, or prepare for a marathon. On the other hand, Nike+ users accessing to the
community, also become members of a worldwide group of runners, which makes their whole
running experience more complete. While the users might be still running alone, they are virtually
supported and challenged by other members of the community. Similarly, The Lost Experience was
121
an ARG is a game that individuals could play online, but that it also required interaction and
collaboration with other players. Thus, users would be involved with the game and compete in
order to be the first ones solving the different clues, but at the same time they would also need to
join the efforts with others in order to get the full picture of the puzzle.
Social media allows these two opposites, the sense of individualism and sense of belonging to a
community, to exist freely, next to each other. Social media applications support the belonging to a
community without interfering in the individualistic needs of the postmodern individual. Thus, for
example, on MySpace teenagers can express their unique selves by creating the content of their
profile126, while at the same time they can join any micro-communities within the platform of
MySpace, such as a rock-music or a fashion lovers group.
Since consumption and marketing communication take such a substantial place in the life of
postmodern individuals, virtual communities are really convenient platforms to satisfy all the
additional needs which derive from the process of consumption, such as separating oneself from
others that are not using the same product and connecting to the ones that do. According to Shang
et al. (2006), Internet users who become members of virtual communities circled around the brand
“might be motivated by social factors, such as pro-social reasons, rather than by personal
considerations” (p. 412).
4.3. Recommendations: How can social media be used as a marketing tool in the
context of postmodernity?
“Marketers know about consumers, consumers know about marketers,
marketers know consumers know about marketers, and consumers know
marketers know consumers know about marketers.” (Brown, S.)
126
MySpace allows users to customise the aesthetics of their profile through the selection of the background, colours,
music and pictures.
122
As the previous parts of the discussion have shown, the emergence of social media has highly
influenced the way companies communicate with their consumers. The cases of Nike+ and The Lost
Experience have demonstrated that attaining customers’ needs has become more demanding and
creative than ever before. Furthermore, the postmodern conditions suggested by Firat & Venkatesh
have also implications on how companies can conduct their social media marketing strategies in
order to meet the needs of fragmented and contradictory consumers. Nevertheless, the aim of the
study is to understand how social media can be used as a marketing tool in postmodernity. Thus, in
order to answer this question, the authors of the present study established the definition of social
media marketing, pointed out the relation between social media and postmodernity, and explained
how the platform can facilitate the communication between companies and postmodern consumers.
Then, before applying all the empirical and theoretical findings to the real-life case of Aarhus
School of Business, some recommendations for companies are provided as the last part of the
discussion. The provided recommendations will focus on the implications of postmodernity to
companies’ marketing activities, and will include suggestions on how to use social media
marketing.
One of the implications of postmodernity to traditional marketing is that it companies need to focus
on establishing relationships with their customers (Firat & Dholakia, 2006; Cova, 1996; Weber,
2007). The relational part of the communication process is the most significant part in social media
marketing (Brogan & Smith, 2008; Weber, 2007; Scott, 2007)127. While it is still very important to
target the audience with an aligned message, companies should concentrate on establishing
relationships with their customers and discuss the perception of their brand message with them. As
it can be concluded from the Chapter 2, the online opinion monitoring and participation in social
media can help a company to understand its patrons better, generate relevant feedback to its actions,
help to shape the reputation, and increase brand awareness (Weber, 2007). Thus, in order to
establish and improve the relationship between a company and its stakeholders, a company’s
marketing communication activities should:

Become less obvious, and concentrate on providing extra value to its consumers.

Concentrate on creating a relationship with customers rather than pushing them to purchase
more.
127
See section 2.2.3.
123

Not induce or impel too strong meanings to the brand/product messages, and leave some
space for customers to create their own meanings.

View product consumption as a value creation activity, and think of their consumers as
active contributors to the process of product development.

Be aligned with the rest of their communication activities. However, companies should
realise and accept that they are not able to fully control the meaning of the message about
their brand. That raises a big issue for them. The level of control imposed by traditional
marketing disappears in social media marketing, although organisations should still try not
to contradict the core meaning of their brand with the messages they are sending to the
audience.
Accordingly, companies should consider the following recommendations in order to implement a
social media marketing strategy.
Before joining the platform of social media:

Companies should start with monitoring the online conversations that consumers are having
about them. The emergence of social media facilitated the communication between people
anywhere around the globe. This means that customers will exchange their opinion about
the company online with or without its participation. Therefore, it might be a good idea for
organisations to be a part of these conversations. However, companies should pre-define the
goals they want to reach before joining the social media platform.

Organisations should not view social media as another medium for their corporate
information placement, but follow and play by the rules of the platform: transparency,
honesty, openness to criticism, speed, quality and valuable content.

Companies should regard customers as producers of the consumption meanings. Reality is
not universal, but commonly constructed (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995; Firat & Dholakia, 2006;
Brown, 1999a). Consequently, social media marketing as well as postmodern marketing
(Firat & Dholakia, 2006) are not about reaching customer satisfaction or just “following”
their needs. It is about creating, constructing and shaping those needs together with
customers.
124
When using social media marketing:

Companies should not ‘broadcast’ their messages on a social media platform without
paying attention to their consumers’ opinions and needs. Social media marketing is prebounded by the unwritten rules and requirements of the medium. Furthermore, postmodern
consumers like to be engaged in conversation, and therefore companies should focus on
building a two-way communication process with them online.

Companies should focus on the consumers, and not on their products, as they are the core of
the strategy. As Olander (2008) states, “the starting point isn’t for us to figure out how we
can know more about you, but, actually, how we can make your run better” (p. ¶7) Thus,
the main goal of the social media strategy should not be to increase sales, but understand
how a company can provide more value to its customers and establish long-term
relationship with them.

Firms should try to combine more than one social media tool together in one strategy
(blogs, social networking websites, podcasts, micro-blogging, and videos), in order to
reinforce the scope of the strategy. Additionally, the applications employed should be
chosen according to the communication and marketing goals an organisation wants to reach
(Gillin, 2008) and considering the characteristics of each social media platform128.

The Internet should be conceived as an ‘umbrella’, under which a number of online and
analogue media initiatives should be integrated. As the Nike+ and The Lost Experience
cases showed, social media marketing actions should be supplemented with cross-media
endeavours and offline activities, which are linked to the online initiatives of a company
and redirect users to the Internet. This can help companies to engage and involve customers
more in their social media campaigns.

Marketing and communication should be creative, fun, innovative and original. Postmodern consumers are looking for more than a utilitarian value from consumption activities
(Firat & Dholakia, 2006). Moreover, consumption and marketing play an important role in
the daily lives of the consumers. Therefore, companies should provide them with a reason
to be engaged in a communication process with a company.

Companies should focus on providing additional value to their publics through their social
media marketing initiatives. Thus, organisations should create compelling virtual
128
See section 2.2.4.
125
environments in order to attract the customers, and offer to them an experience beyond their
purchase action (Firat & Dholakia, 2006; Arnould et al., 2005).

Social media marketing strategies should encourage the formation of a community around a
brand, a company or a product. The sense of belonging to a community should be provided
to consumers through the offering of certain values (Sicilia & Palazón, 2008): functional
value (practical benefits), social value (connectivity), and entertainment value (enjoyment).
Additionally, the communal feeling could be reinforce by including certain tribal elements,
such as symbols, passwords, and the development of a communal culture.

Marketers should encourage customer-to-customer communication as a way to trigger their
involvement with a social media marketing initiative. As the case of The Lost Experience
has shown, a high level of collaboration between users can carry out a high level of
engagement with a marketing initiative.

Given that the juxtaposition of the opposites is a norm for postmodern consumers,
companies should not fear the existence of contradictions within their social media strategy.
Only allowing certain opposing factors to co-exist in the same context will help to address
the complex needs of contradictory postmodern individuals.

Social media marketing initiatives should allow users to customise the content available and
express one or more of their multiple identities in order to have a personalised unique
experience.
4.4. ASB case
In this section of the discussion, the theoretical and empirical findings of the study will be applied
to a real-life case. First, a small introduction about ASB is provided, in order to enlighten the reader
on the key facts about the school and their social media initiatives. Then, the main issues that the
school is concerned about and the goals of its social media strategy are discussed. Finally, some
recommendations for its social media marketing are suggested.
As it was mentioned previously, ASB case is based on the information gathered from the ASB’s
websites, data collected from social media applications, and comments attained from an interview
126
with Nikolaj H. Keldorff, the project manager at ASB Media129 in the IT department at Aarhus
School of Business. Nikolaj Keldorff is responsible for the development of new media and web
services for ASB web-television channel (ASB CAST), ASB official website (http://www.asb.dk),
as well as corporate newsletters. As Keldorff states, his “role is to be the missing link between the
Communication department130 and the Media department, web development131, and the IT
department” (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶ 4).
4.4.1.
The overview: Aarhus School of Business
Aarhus School of Business132 (Denmark) is a non-profit academic institution, founded in 1939
(Aarhus School of Business, 2009a). The school, which has held an EQUIS133 accreditation for five
years (Aarhus School of Business, 2009b; 2009g; 2009f; EFMD, 2009a), is a part of Aarhus
University134 and, therefore, among the 100 top universities worldwide135 (Aarhus School of
Business, 2009b; Times Higher Education, 2009). In 2008 the school had approximately 8,000
students, 46 professors, 160 part-time lecturers, and 244 researchers (Aarhus School of Business,
2009b; 2009g). ASB aims to become more international, and 26 percent of its students came outside
Denmark in 2008 (900 full-time degree, and 400 exchange students from 80 countries worldwide)
(Aarhus School of Business, 2009b; 2009g):
We strive to rank highly as international business school in terms of both research and
education. We wish to integrate internationalization in all the activities conducted in
ASB (Aarhus School of Business, 2009b).
129
ASB Media is ASB department that provides “the physical frames for the ASB web communication. <..> select and
manage the online media that ASB uses ... guide and inspire the employees at ASB in using CMS and other tools for
web communication and e-learning.” (Aarhus School of Business, 2009h).
130
Communication and Development department.
131
ASB Media.
132
The official name of the school is Handelshøjskolen/Aarhus School of Business , Aarhus University (abbreviated
ASB)
133
EQUIS is the European Quality Improvement System – a management and business administration schools’
accreditation system, which is run by European Foundation of Management Development. There were 115 accredited
schools from 44 countries in 2009. (EFMD, 2009b).
134
Aarhus School of Business merged with Aarhus University in 2007 (Aarhus School of Business, 2009g; Aarhus
School of Business, 2006; Aarhus University, 2006).
135
Aarhus University was ranked as 63rd best university around the world in 2009 (Times Higher Education, 2009).
127
In spite of that, the primary language of the school remains Danish. Although all the students,
researchers and staff have to be able to communicate in English (Aarhus School of Business,
2009d).
The school’s mission is as follows:
Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University contributes added value to society
through research, education and dialogue on companies and organisations and their
surroundings. Together with the rest of Aarhus University, we develop knowledge,
welfare and culture through research and research-based education, dissemination
and consulting (Aarhus School of Business, 2009b).
Furthermore, ASB’s vision states:
ASB wants to be a leading, international business school. ASB wants to develop and
transform knowledge and ideas, that creates sustainable growth through innovation
for the benefit of students, companies, organisations and society (Aarhus School of
Business, 2009b).
Students at Aarhus School of Business can choose to study a wide variety of programmes in the
areas of business languages and corporate communication, business administration, business law,
and marketing (Aarhus School of Business, 2009g). The masters programmes at ASB are mostly
taught in English, whereas the bachelors are usually in Danish (Aarhus School of Business, 2009f).
According to ASB, in 2008 the school’s Career Centre had 31 partnerships with business companies
(Aarhus School of Business, 2009g), and ASB Alumni network had more than 6,000 former
students registered in 2009 (ASB Alumni, 2009c).
ASB has six different academic departments (see Figure 5 for the full structure of ASB):
Department of Management, Department of Marketing and Statistics, Department of Business
Studies, Department of Language and Business Communication, Department of Business Law, and
Department of Economics (Aarhus School of Business, 2009b).
ASB’s strategy for 2009-2012
128
As it was already pointed out in its vision, the main goal of Aarhus School of Business is to become
“one of the leading, international business schools”. Thus, during the period of 2006-2009 ASB was
mainly concerned about the issues related with the school’s internationalization (Aarhus School of
Business, 2009f). Although ASB attempts to keep working on its process of internationalization
(Aarhus School of Business, 2009f), the school chose sustainable growth through innovation as
their field of concern136 for the next three years (2009-2012), (Aarhus School of Business, 2009e;
2009f; 2009g):
The global financial crises and the climate changes have developed a new awareness.
We are forced to consider and choose solutions that are long-termed and sustainable –
economically and socially as well as environmentally. Through the increased focus on
sustainable growth through innovation, we will contribute to solving these global
issues. Hence, the theme will function as a mindset of our priorities and actions, and
as a professional focus for our research and a consistent element in our study
programmes and our communication (Aarhus School of Business, 2009e).
ASB is also concerned about the career possibilities for both Danish and international students, and
how “to attract new groups of applicants, more high-quality applicants and applicants who are
willing to pay for quality” (p. 7) in their 2009-2012 strategy (Aarhus School of Business, 2009f).
Additionally, the school supports IT as an inseparable part of education (“IT as a competence”),
recognises the need to improve the communication between the school and its stakeholders through
information and communication technologies:
...we will increase the level of information vis-à-vis the primary users through the use
of new communication channels and digital media. ... By using modern technology,
media and digital infrastructure we will continue to create new and advanced forms of
integration between the ASB Library, learning and new possibilities and frameworks
(Aarhus School of Business, 2009f, p. 12)
136
“For each strategy period up until 2020, we will direct our focus at a particular theme which will take us to the
forefront of current development trends and allow us to meet the needs of the business community through
interdisciplinary and external research and educational activities with a strong academic foundation within the relevant
thematic focus area. The intention is for the theme, during the strategy period, to provide a new outlook and ensure a
change in attitude which will take us forward and become an integrated part of our mindset.” (Aarhus School of
Business, 2009f, p. 2).
129
Figure 5: The ASB Organisation (Aarhus School of Business, 2009c)
130
4.4.2.
Aarhus School of business’ social media strategy
“...it’s a new world. It’s a difficult world to grasp.” (Keldorff, interview,
November 23, 2009, p. ¶15)
“ASB as an organisation has a lot to learn, and we have to mature in our
communication, and in a way of communicating before we will master these
new media” (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶56).
When it comes to social media, ASB has implemented a few projects on the medium (see Table 6). As
Nikolaj Keldroff, project manager at ASB Media, explains:
The social media strategy is important because social media is now affecting digital living
... you now have the direct channel for communication with your users and stakeholders.
So it would be foolish not to consider, at least, consider to what degree you want to be
present in social media (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶20).
Social media strategy
In November 2009 the school was working on defining its social media strategy:
With the rise of social media, it has become less and less expensive to communicate and
interact with your peers and your stakeholders. ... We137 are in the middle of creating ... a
draft for our social media strategy, which will be an appendix to our communication
strategy (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, pp. ¶7,13).
137
ASB, Communication and development department and ASB Media department.
131
Table 6: ASB social media and other online initiatives
Social media
application
Website
Aarhus
School of
Business
Blogs
YouTube
Facebook
Description of initiative
ASB website138:
All information about studying, research, achievements, etc. related to Aarhus
school of Business (Aarhus School of Business, 2009l)
ASB Blogs139:
ASB’s blogging platform, that allows users to have a blog which is related to
ASB (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009; Aarhus School of Business,
2009m): “At ASB, we simply believe that our students are in the best position
to reveal the culture and daily life of ASB. The purpose of this blog is to
empower students and provide them with a voice. We believe our students
have a high sense of responsibility and are able to demonstrate ethical
conduct. Therefore, students are accountable for their own blogs” (Aarhus
School of Business, 2009n). In November 2009 there were twenty blogs
available on the platform, and four of them were in English. The blog of the
International Office at ASB was moved to Facebook in June 2009 (Aarhus
School of Business, 2009m; Fisher, 2009).
ASB video channel on YouTube140 (channel name: asbvids):
ASB’s description of its channel on YouTube states: “The basis for ASB's
user-driven video channel is simple: sometimes things are presented better
visually” (Aarhus School of Business, 2009i). In November 2009 the channel
had seven uploaded videos that had been viewed approximately 7,000. The
videos uploaded were a virtual tour around ASB, and six Christmas greetings
(in Danish and English). The channel was created in November 2009, and had
not been lately updated.
ASB group on Facebook141:
The group’s self-description on Facebook states: “Those of you who are
associated with the Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus (ASB)
now have the opportunity to meet on Facebook. This group is a great way to
communicate with faculty, staff and other students as well as stay updated on
current events. However if you want to stay updated on events related to ASB
go to our Facebook ‘page’” (Aarhus School of Business, 2009j).
In November 2009 the group had approximately 2,800 members. It is a semiofficial group (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009), used by the
members in order to post information related to ASB, life in Aarhus, events
that could interest ASB students, etc. There were no active discussions on the
group’s webpage in November 2009.
138
Available at URL: http://www.asb.dk/
139
Available at URL: http://weblogs.asb.dk/
140
Available at URL: http://www.youtube.com/user/asbvids
141
Available at URL: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=6829736317
132
ASB Cast
Website
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
ASB
Career
Centre
Website
ASB page on Facebook142:
The page to share information, events, pictures, videos related to ASB.
The page had around 700 fans by the end of November 2009, although it had
not been updated lately. (Aarhus School of Business, 2009k). The fan page
was last updated with news in August 2009, and no fans discussions or
interactions were present in November 2009.
ASB CAST online platform143:
About ASB CAST: “ASBCAST is the media archive at Aarhus School of
Business, Aarhus University (ASB). ASBCAST provides the framework for
all media productions in research communication and teaching at ASB. The
content is primarily research stories, mini-lectures and recordings of event.”
(ASB CAST, 2009a). There were 65 videos uploaded on the platform by
November 2009. Most of them were in Danish (21 in English). Since the time
the first video was uploaded in October 2009, the videos had been viewed
almost 16,000 times all together in November 2009. (ASB CAST, 2009a).
ASB CAST channel on YouTube144 (channel name asbcast):
On the channel on YouTube users are able to find “videos with the latest
research from Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University” (ASB CAST,
2009b).
The channel was created in October 2009, and in November 2009 there were
26 videos (3 in English) from ASB CAST online platform uploaded, which
had been viewed more than 700 times.
ASB CAST page on Facebook145:
The description of the page, “ASBCAST on Facebook. Get insights from the
researchers of Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University” (ASB CAST,
2009c). The page is used to upload some pictures from ASB CAST studio,
and, mostly, to inform users about the appearance of new videos. ASB CAST
page had approximately twenty fans in November 2009 (ASB CAST, 2009c).
ASB CAST profile on Twitter146 (user name: asbcast):
It is “instant business knowledge from Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus
University” (ASB CAST, 2009d). The account counted with 50 followers and
38 tweets about the new uploaded videos on ASB CAST online platform in
November 2009. Depending on the language of the uploaded video, tweets
were written in Danish or English (ASB CAST, 2009d).
ASB Career Centre website147:
All the information about ASB Career Centre for students and business
companies: events calendar, video introduction about the centre, information
about services provided by it, scholarships, internships, job-bank,
competitions, etc (ASB Career Centre, 2009a).
142
Available at URL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aarhus-Denmark/Aarhus-School-of-Business-University-ofAarhus/7428887413?v=wall#/pages/Aarhus-Denmark/Aarhus-School-of-Business-University-of-Aarhus/7428887413
143
Available at URL: http://www.asbcast.dk/
144
Available at URL: http://www.youtube.com/user/asbcast
145
Available at URL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/ASBCAST/106720982568?ref=ts
146
Available at URL: http://twitter.com/asbcast
147
Available at URL: http://www.asb.dk/article.aspx?pid=7188
133
Facebook
ASB
Alumni
Website
online
community
ASB Practical Help for International Students Attending ASB group on
Facebook148:
The description of the group: “This is a group created to help international
students who are about to begin studying at Aarhus School of Business. It is a
form of a support system to help answer questions that you are having
difficulty finding the answers for. This can range from anything school,
housing, culture, and language-related. It is meant to be an open forum to
help ease your transition as well as to help other potential students who may
have the same question” (ASB Career Centre, 2009b).
The access to the content of the group is limited: only ASB students can join
the group, participate in the discussions, and view the information available
on the group’s site. The group had around 300 members in November 2009.
The members of the group shared the practical information, such as the
apartments available for rent in Aarhus. The users of the group were very
active on the discussion boards before the official start of the school year at
ASB.
Career Advice for INTERNATIONAL Students Attending ASB group on
Facebook149:
The description of the group on Facebook: “This group has been created to
help make it easier for international students to find study-relevant jobs while
in Denmark. This group is only for international students. It will be updated
with relevant information (i.e. - job openings, discussion forums, company
events, etc) as it becomes available to us” (ASB Career Centre, 2009c).
The access to the content in the group is limited: only ASB students can join
the group and view the information available on the site. The group had
around 500 members, and had been constantly updated in November 2009.
ASB Karrierecenter group on Facebook150:
Career advice and related news for ASB students. The main language on the
group is Danish. By November, 2009 group had around 250 members. (ASB
Career Centre, 2009d)
Alumni website151 on the main asb.dk website:
The reader can find all the main information about ASB Alumni organisation
on the website: who they are, how to join, Hall of fame, alumni network
Connect, ambassador programme, business articles, etc. (ASB Alumni,
2009a).
Alumni’s online community Connect152:
ASB Connect is “ASB's alumni online community. Students, faculty, staff
and former employees are also invited to join the network” (ASB Alumni,
2009b).
148
Available at URL:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=105017572566&ref=search&sid=635402404.1877019990.
.1 149
Available at URL:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55789132068&ref=search&sid=635402404.2271023310..1
150
Available at URL: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26239190634&ref=search&sid=635402404.2271023310..1
151
Available at URL: http://www.asb.dk/portal.aspx?pid=3369
152
Available at URL: http://connect.asb.dk/
134
Facebook
YouTube
ASB
Library
Webpage
Facebook
Twitter
Other
Facebook
In November 2009, the network had more than 6,000 active members that
were connected to each other through the online platform of Connect (ASB
Alumni, 2009c). Connect user accounts can be connected with any Facebook
account, so that users can share information on both sites simultaneously
(ASB Alumni, 2009b).
ASB Alumni’s group on Facebook153:
“This is a group for alumni from the Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus
University in Denmark ... Current and former employees are also welcome as
members.” (ASB Alumni, 2009d).
The group, which had more than 1,600 members in November 2009,
displayed mainly information about ASB Alumni or the latest information
about ASB (ASB Alumni, 2009d).
ASB Alumni’s channel on YouTube154 (the channel name is asbalumni):
The channel has uploaded one video in November 2008 (ASB Alumni,
2009f), in order to introduce “ASByou - an online community for alumni
from the Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus” that has been
viewed more than 600 times by November, 2009 (ASB Alumni, 2008).
ASB Library webpage155:
Users can find all the main information about the library on the webpage,
which is build inside the main website of ASB asb.dk (ASB Library, 2009a).
ASB Library page on Facebook156:
The Library shares all the relevant information related to the Library on the
page, which is updated quite often with the news from the Library (ASB
Library, 2009b). The page had approximately 100 fans by November 2009
(ASB Library, 2009b).
ASB Library profile on Twitter157 (user name: ASBLibrary):
“The ASB Library serves Aarhus Business School at Aarhus University.
Twittering from here is the Library Twitter Group: Lise, Johhni, Lone, Cilie,
Anne, Betina” (ASB Library, 2009c). The Library’s profile is followed by 42
users, whereas the Library follows 27 (ASB Library, 2009c). The Library
mainly shares the same tweets as its updates on Facebook.
ASB Summer University’09 group on Facebook158
ASB Buddy Programme’09 group on Facebook159
153
Available at URL:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=635402404&ref=profile#/group.php?gid=13117765362&ref=search&sid=635402
404.834426092..1
154
Available at URL: http://www.youtube.com/user/asbalumni
155
Available at URL: http://www.asb.dk/lib
156
Available at URL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aarhus-Denmark/ASB-Library-ASB-Bibliotek/6247007231
157
Available at URL: http://twitter.com/ASBlibrary
158
Available at URL:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=110598887717&ref=search&sid=635402404.2271023310..1
159
Available at URL: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62369262306
135
Klubben’s160 group on Facebook161
Studenterlauget’s group on Facebook162
Caféen’s163 group on Facebook164
ASB Fitness’ group on Facebook165
Furthermore, ASB is also concerned about the opinion that its external and internal stakeholders hold
about the school and express online, so the action plan on how to respond and monitor the opinion on
social media applications is also being implemented at the same time – “...a plan of how we want to
interact and be present at the media. And most importantly, how we react and who reacts, if we receive
bad press or some kind of rumours about the school” (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶17).
According to Keldroff (interview, November 23, 2009) and Aarhus School of Business (2009f), ASB’s
social media strategy has to correspond with the whole strategy of the school (see section 4.4.1.). Thus,
any online and social media initiative has to: (1) facilitate sustainable growth through innovation; (2)
help the school to become even more international; (3) increase awareness about the school
internationally; and (4) to become one of the leading business schools around the globe.
Goals of ASB social media strategy
ASB’s main stakeholders, whom the school attempts to target through their social media initiatives,
are: (1) prospect, current and former students from ASB; (2) employees and lecturers; and (3) external
stakeholders, such as other educational institutions and corporations (Keldorff, interview, November
23, 2009). According to Keldroff (interview, November 23, 2009), ASB is currently experimenting
160
Klubben is a bar/club at ASB owned by Studeneter Lauget, the largest student organisation in Denmark having more
than 3500 members (Studenter Lauget, 2009a; Studenter Lauget, 2009b).
161
Available at URL:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=635402404&ref=profile#/group.php?gid=12940920599&ref=search&sid=635402
404.224422558..1
162
Available at URL:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5505079954&ref=search&sid=635402404.312143039..1#/group.php?v=wall&ref
=search&gid=5505079954
163
“Caféen is one of the two lunch areas of Studenterlauget. Caféen is situated at the second floor of the M-building”
(Studenter Lauget, 2009c).
164
165
136
with social media, and trying to gather as much information as possible about its stakeholders and their
preferences. Thus, ASB has a clear goal for their communication and marketing activities on any social
media platform: to engage in conversation with their stakeholders as a means to achieve their loyalty.
As Keldorff states (interview, November 23, 2009), loyalty will provide an extra value to the school not only as a business school, but also as a brand that has high value for its alumni as well as Danish
corporations:
...with the Internet and social media we have whole new range of possibilities towards
interacting and engaging in the conversation with our peers. So our goal is to be able to
facilitate conversation and engagement between our stakeholders and the school, and inbetween the stakeholders themselves. If we get the conversation going between us and our
users, then, first of all, we will have some loyalty from the users. (Keldorff, interview,
November 23, 2009, p. ¶26).
ASB also aims to find the most efficient way to monitor the “disconnected conversations” about the
school (p. ¶20) which are taking place on social media (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009).
Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009) points out that it is crucial to (1) get an understanding of
what kind of discussions (positive or negative) are being carried out by the Internet users; (2) be able to
take part in those conversations; and (3) answer the questions or the doubts that users may have.
According to Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009), through its social media initiatives the school
attempts to provide convenience to their stakeholders (“convenience is a king” (p. ¶67)). Therefore,
Aarhus School of Business is focusing mostly on the functional needs of their stakeholders and
providing essential information which could be important or interesting to their students through
different social media platforms:
...social media is important for many communicational purposes. Some of it is in towards
addressing questions from possible students, and some of it would be interacting with
present students and giving them some channels, whether this will be heard by
organisation the interaction would be a lot more smooth and convenient. Our postgraduates, the alumni group, would want to keep up with the new research, knowledge
from ASB ... So we regard all these media as channels of possible messages and demands
of the users. And they are a lot more convenient both for us as an organisation, but also
for the users. (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶67)
137
Challenges for ASB
Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009) mentions that ASB has to face a number of challenges
regarding its use of social media. According to him, social media platforms require a new approach to
the whole process of communication and marketing carried out by the school. Thus, the corporate
presence on the medium is at stake, since the Internet makes the user ‘hold the power’ and decreases
ASB’ control over the conversation: “suddenly, one user can give you a great deal of pain towards that
presence. So you have to respect that and that is the new way of thinking” (Keldorff, interview,
November 23, 2009, p. ¶11).
Consequently, social media has brought another challenge to the school, which is common to any other
corporation: the possibility of being openly criticized on one of the platforms (Keldorff, interview,
November 23, 2009). Therefore, ASB’s involvement with social media will require the establishments
of a new, more open culture: “a lot of our employees are not that accustomed to use this kind of
communication” (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶32). Keldorff (interview, November 23,
2009) asserts that ASB has a lot of willingness to participate in the conversations – positive or negative
– which are happening online. Nonetheless, this will require “to re-evaluate our culture of being ... for
some people and some part of organisation it is a new world that they would be able to – whether they
want to or not – to have criticism right in their faces, and the users demand something from them”
(Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶58).
4.4.3. ASB social media initiatives
ASB selects its social media tools depending on the target audience, as well as the topic which will be
communicate or discuss:
...it’s not so much of the question of whether you choose to consider the medium because
of its users, but also could be of what you need to communicate. And I do not think we
would settle on either or, but it will be a constant evaluation of what would be the right
strategy to distribute or communicate ‘this’ message or ‘this’ topic, how we want to
138
interact with our peers and users, and which medium, which channel would be the best for
that (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶24).
As it was indicated in Table 6, ASB and its different departments have been carrying out a number of
communication initiatives using different social media tools. However, Keldorff (interview, November
23, 2009) claims that the school is trying to coordinate those activities, which at the moment come
from different divisions and whose control is not centralised:
A lot of the times, if not all of the times, it is the divisions, which are in direct contact
somehow with their users and peers. So they know which channels they would want to use
and their users would want them to use. ... I am considering our strategy more as a kind
of guideline strategy, and attempt to aggregate our efforts. So they will be able to get help
and insights on how to use different media, and not so much about them being controlled
by centralised division. (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶69)
According to Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009), in the near future ASB will focus on the
following social media initiatives: ASB’s presence on Facebook, ASB CAST, the online network ASB
Connect, and ASB Alumni. The following paragraphs in this section provide an overview of the main
social media initiatives carried out by ASB.
ASB Blogs
The blogging platform, which was launched in 2006, was the first social media initiative carried out by
ASB (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009). On ASB Blogs all ASB students, lecturers and
employees are able to express their opinion openly (Aarhus School of Business, 2009m; 2009n;
Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009). The key characteristic of ASB Blog’s platform is that the
bloggers are able to express their views and share their experiences exclusively on issues related to the
school (Aarhus School of Business, 2009r; 2009m; 2009n; Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009).
Although, according to Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009), the blogging platform is valuable for
the school, it has not been that successful:
It is always difficult to engage users to create in such a platform because they have to feel
the need. ... of blogging in the context of ASB experience. And we haven’t been able to
139
communicate and to convince a lot of users that, first of all, we have this platform and the
possibility of creating a weblog at that platform. But also that they have not been told or
engaged into conversation, why they should be blogging on that platform, and not on the
other platform somewhere on Blogspot or Wordpress blogging platforms (Keldorff,
interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶30).
ASB also implemented some guidelines for its bloggers, who are required to respect copyrights and
privacy issues, as well as encouraged to contribute positively to the school with every post (Aarhus
School of Business, 2009r).
ASB on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
As Table 6 has shown, ASB has is present on several social networking sites, such as Facebook.
Besides the official or semi-official groups and pages, it is also possible to find “user driven or
facilitated groups and pages” on Facebook and LinkedIn (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p.
¶30). However, according to Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009), the school’s presence on
Facebook is “sporadic” (p. ¶30), and ASB attempts to reach convergence regarding the use of the
different social media channels.
ASB considers Facebook be one of the most efficient channels for interacting with prospect and current
students, since the social networking website is so popular between that group of stakeholders
(Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009); whereas LinkedIn is more relevant for former students:
“LinkedIn is the other link with our stakeholders group, and LinkedIn is our channel to approach
graduates, alumni” (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶22).
ASB CAST
ASB CAST is a web television platform developed by ASB: “ASB CAST is our new answer to how to
make educational television and, of course, we consider ASB CAST as a branding initiative. So it is an
initiative that it is aimed towards creating a brand value and awareness for all stakeholder levels.”
(Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶38).
140
The platform, which was launched in 2008 (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009), is used to upload
videos from lectures and presentations that were purposely filmed for ASB CAST (ASB CAST, 2009e;
Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009):
Research stories present the core of the researchers' fields. They focus on issues that are
topical and relevant to business and society. The form is short and direct, and we
introduce new stories every week in association with ASB's own 315 researchers and a
variety of visiting international researchers. ... All material is provided with keywords
(Meta tags) and placed in a structure that makes it easy to find relevant topics within the
ASB's research areas (ASB CAST, 2009e).
The platform has a fan page on Facebook, as well as a Twitter account, which are used to alert its users
every time that the site is updated with new videos (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009; ASB
CAST, 2009d; 2009c).
ASB CAST’s target audience are not only the current students at the school, but also external
stakeholders, since the initiative is meant to create additional value and shape the brand of ASB
(Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009). According to Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009), the
stakeholders outside the school are very satisfied with the initiative.
ASB Connect
ASB Connect is an online network initiated by ASB’s Alumni division (ASB Alumni, 2009a; Keldorff,
interview, November 23, 2009). According to Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009), ASB Connect
is one of the most successful social media initiatives implemented by ASB.
On ASB Connect, former students at the school are enabled to network between them, although the
present students and the employees of the school are also encouraged to join the online community
(Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009; ASB Alumni, 2009b). Furthermore, Keldorff claims that
“the team behind the alumni network Connect is very good at creating the valuable content and
interactions between the alumni from ASB” (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009, p. ¶46).
Compared to LinkedIn, ASB Connect can offer added value for its members, since the platform
provides the “tools needed to be able to separate your alumni network of ASB” (Keldorff, interview,
141
November 23, 2009, p. ¶48). Hence, Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009) argues that members of
Alumni network have a reason to use it: it is easier to manage all the connections that share the same
ASB past. Moreover, they can easily engage into conversation with each other, share information
relevant to the members of the network, and get the latest news about the business research (ASB
Alumni, 2009b).
According to Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009), in order to increase the popularity of ASB
Connect, the school has to coordinate their social media activities, so they facilitate conversion of
current students into members of the Connect network.
ASByou
ASByou was a failed attempt to create an online community at ASB166 (Keldorff, interview, November
23, 2009). ASByou was a social media networking platform, which was developed for ASB students in
order to communicate with each other and comment on their daily life at ASB. According to Keldorff
(interview, November 23, 2009), it was the least successful social media activity carried out at ASB.
He explains that ASByou could have been viewed as a competitor to Facebook:
...you cannot make students create and utilize ASByou just to communicate with other
students, and maybe getting some information from the organisation behind because all of
the students are already communicating with each other on Facebook. So it was a failure
in that sense that there were no strong enough argument to make students to move to
ASByou and make ASByou a part of their daily life on social media because it was not
considered a valuable alternative to Facebook (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009,
p. ¶42).
The future plans
As it was mentioned previously, the school is planning to strengthen their communication on
Facebook. Nevertheless, LinkedIn is also considered to be a really important channel for Aarhus
School of Business. According to Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009), social networking
166
The platform had been closed and unavailable in November, 2009.
142
websites Facebook and LinkedIn are the most important “hubs” for ASB, since most of its users are
already present on these two channels:
With Facebook people have been educated on how to be present and how to interact on
social media. Thereby, LinkedIn has gained this “second wind”. The level of users present
at LinkedIn is constantly rising right now. So LinkedIn will be our “second leg” on our
social media presence. ... We will want to be present at all the hubs of media and
conversational interaction on the Internet to the extent that we find it to be valuable
towards our goals of communication and interaction. And let’s just say that we need to
assess whether we have critical mass on these media or not. (Keldorff, interview,
November 23, 2009, p. ¶60).
4.4.4. Recommendations for ASB social media strategy
As the previous section has shown, ASB is already highly active when it comes to social media. The
school and its departments are involved and have initiated many projects on the platform. The present
section provides a discussion on ASB’s social media initiatives, and suggests some recommendations
for its future strategy. The recommendations will be focus on the main social media activities carried
out by ASB: ASB Blogs, ASB presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, ASB CAST167.
When putting down any communication or marketing strategy, key factors such as the target group and
the goals of the strategy have to be taken into account (Kotler et al., 2008). These two aspects will act
as the main guidelines for the whole marketing and communication strategy. Hence, the
recommendations given for the social media marketing strategy of ASB are written and guided in the
same notion. Thus, the authors of this study will identify first the target group for the recommendations
for the strategy. Then, the goals of the strategy are indicated, followed by the short evaluation and
description of ASB’s current initiatives and projects in the social media. Finally, the recommendations
for a social media strategy are provided.
167
Therefore, the recommendations will be based on those initiatives that are managed by ASB Media at the IT Department
of the school, and not on the independent initiatives coming from different divisions of the school.
143
The target audience
ASB’s target audiences can be divided into three different groups: (1) internal stakeholders:
stakeholders who are important for the school to perform their day-to-day activities – current students,
administrative employees, as well as lecturers and researchers.; (2) associated stakeholders:
stakeholders who at the moment are not directly associated with the school, but can be influenced
online by others or have a strong impact on other people’s opinion– prospect students and employees,
as well as former students and employees; and (3) external stakeholders: stakeholders who are
important for the school for their well being – such as other educational or governmental institutions,
corporate stakeholders, the media, etc.
The strategic goals of the social media marketing strategy
Given ASB’s strategy for 2009-2012 and the ideas gathered from the interview with Nikolaj Keldorff,
the social media marketing strategy of Aarhus School of Business should be guided by the following
objectives:

Help to communicate and facilitate sustainable growth through innovation;

Facilitate the internationalization process at the school;

Increase international awareness of the school;

Provide assistance and support, while trying to become one of the leading business schools in
the world.
The aforementioned social media marketing goals can be achieved and facilitated through: (1) student
involvement and engagement into a conversation with the school; (2) ASB’s branding initiatives on the
platform of social media; (3) encouragement of research and quality of study on social media, (4) the
increased focus on social media marketing as a way to substitute (or decrease) traditional marketing;
(5) achievement of loyalty from the users and their peers online; and (6) encouragement and facilitation
of the internationalization in the school through their social media initiatives.
The strengths of the current ASB social media marketing strategy
144
In the relation to the social media activities implemented by ASB, the school is on the right track and
operating in the medium successfully. The school has already implemented, or have the intention to
implement in the future, some of the recommendations suggested for the companies using social media
marketing in the section 4.3. of this thesis.
The social media marketing strategy is considered to be a part of the main communication strategy of
ASB. This indicates that the social media strategy at the school does not risk of becoming a
disconnected initiative, but will be strategically integrated into the whole communication and
marketing strategy of institution. Although according to Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009),
until the present the school has been only experimenting with social media, the amount of effort and the
number of social media projects implemented by ASB indicates that social media will be regarded even
more seriously in the future. In addition to that, the information attained during the interview, helps to
draw the conclusions that the school has been striving to achieve coherence between different online
channels, and trying not to contradict the core meaning of ASB brand, its mission and vision.
Furthermore, when talking about ASB’s social media initiatives, Keldorff (interview, November 23,
2009) stressed the importance of establishing and maintaining the relationship with its stakeholder
groups, which is necessary when talking about postmodern and social media marketing (“our goal is to
be able to facilitate conversation and engagement between our stakeholders and the school, and inbetween the stakeholders themselves” (p. ¶26)). As it was pointed out in the general recommendations
provided for companies, it is important to give customers the possibility of interacting with each other
(customer-to-customer communication), and the school is willing to provide its stakeholders with a
channel for this kind of interaction.
The recommendations have suggested that a company should have clear communicational goals before
implementing any social media initiative, try to use a mix of social media tools in the strategy,
supplement it with analogue media and, most importantly, not view social media simply as another
medium in which to place corporate information. Accordingly, Keldorff (interview, November 23,
2009) claims that ASB decides which social media tool to use based on the stakeholder group they
want to engage in conversation, as well as the topic that will be discussed with them. This suggests
that, before diving into the medium, the school started with defining of their objectives. Then, as it was
145
mentioned previously, ASB employs a combination of different social media tools for different
purposes – blogging and micro-blogging, social networking, video-podcasts. Lastly, as Keldorff
(interview, November 23, 2009) points out, ASB is aware of the fact that social media requires a
completely new communication paradigm for the school, an understanding of how the medium works,
as well as openness and transparency inside of the organisation.
The weaknesses of the current social media marketing strategy at ASB
Despite all the strengths which have been highlighted, as Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009)
states, ASB has to face a number of challenges that the medium is bringing for them. Hence, before
providing some recommendations for the school, it is necessary to get an understanding of the
weaknesses of its current strategy168.
First, ASB already feels the possible resistance inside of the organisation to become more open, allow
external stakeholders to become a part of the school’s communication strategy (and even shaping and
constructing it together), and get exposed to be criticized publicly. As Keldorff (interview, November
23, 2009) points out, it will take some time to change this culture while people get use to this new type
of participatory communication.
The general recommendations provided suggest companies not to focus exclusively on the utilitarian
(or functional) needs of their consumers when interacting with them. However, when asked about the
consumers needs that ASB is trying to meet, Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009) indicated
convenience as “a number one” need. Although convenience is really important to its stakeholders, the
school should also try to explore the possible needs of socialization and entertainment that its
stakeholders may have169. A deep analysis of each social media initiatives carried out by ASB could
show that only ASB Career Centre and ASB Alumni are able to provide their peers more than a
functional value with the Connect network and Career’s centre’s groups on Facebook. On the other
168
Both mentioned by Nikolaj Keldorff, and observed and indicated by the authors of this thesis.
169
For instance, it is really easy to socialize and interact with organisational peers on Facebook due to the functionality of
the platform; in addition, the users of the platform gather there to interact with each other and stay “connected”.
146
hand, ASB Blogs and ASB CAST platforms have not been exploited to the fullest yet. Although it is
important to bear in mind that ASB CAST has been created recently.
Nevertheless, as it is pointed out by Keldorff (interview, November 23, 2009), ASB has not been
successful in persuading people to use its blogging platform, and the school’s presence on Facebook
has been not very well organized. Moreover, the other social media applications employed to
popularize ASB CAST, such as a fan page on Facebook, a channel on YouTube, and a Twitter account,
have not been able to engage users into discussion or conversation with its creators. Thus, the tools
have been mainly used for “broadcasting” the video updates on ASB CAST.
Additionally, there is a mismatch between the strategic goals of the school and its current social media
actions. According to Keldroff (interview, November 23, 2009), ASB has “to be focused on becoming
a lot more internationally acknowledged, and interact in international environment of schools and not
so much in local environment of business schools” (p. ¶28). However, most of the initiated projects are
focused on providing communication in Danish. Although this is completely natural, due to the
school’s official language policy (see section 4.4.1.), this could stop current and potential foreign
students to engage in conversation with the school.
Overall, it can be stated that ASB has got good motivation and starting points to build its social media
strategy. Nonetheless, the school should attempt to improve their communication and interaction with
the users on the medium, provide extra value to the users, and avoid possible misalignments between
their strategic goals and actions.
The recommendations for social media marketing strategy
Aarhus School of Business should take into consideration the following recommendations when
implementing its social media marketing strategy:

Instead of focusing mostly on its role as information provider, ASB should interact more with
its stakeholders and engage into a two-way conversation with them. Thus, social media
marketing should be conceived as a constant online dialogue with different audiences.
147

The school attempts to focus on building relationships and achieving user loyalty. Nevertheless,
the actions which have been carrying out so far, such as creating a fan page on Facebook for the
school or ASB CAST, are not enough. Relationships are created through mutual
communication and interaction. Hence, ASB should encourage stakeholder’s online initiatives
and proactively respond to them when they take place.

As a result, ASB’s communication and marketing activities online should become more
proactive, creative, and fun, in order to provide stakeholders with a reason to interact with the
school and keep using a platform. At the moment ASB is mostly concentrating on the utilitarian
needs on their publics, and on how to provide a convenient information channel for its internal
and external stakeholders. However, as the cases of Nike+ and the Lost campaigned
exemplified, users are more likely to be engaged whether their social and experiential needs are
met.

Consequently, while it is important to set clear communicational goals and select the right
social media tools, it should not be forgotten that in social media marketing the consumer – and
in the case of ASB, the students and other stakeholders- should become the centre of the
strategy. Thus, the whole communication strategy should be reversed, and approached in an
outside-in manner. For instance: How can the school help its peers to become more efficient
and organized while studying and preparing for the classes? How can ASB help companies
become more sustainable through technology innovation? What can the school offer to postgraduate students, in order to keep in touch with them? How can ASB help alumni to stay
informed about the latest research in business communication?

The mix of social media tools employed by the school should complement each other and help
to reach convergence. Hence, when using different social media platforms the school should
remember the different motivational factors that drive users to each site. Thus, Facebook,
LinkedIn, Twitter, or YouTube users are guided by different goals and needs of interaction. As
a result, the communication objectives for these channels should vary as well. For instance,
Twitter should be used as a tool to facilitate and maintain a constant dialogue between the
followers of the account and the ones who ASB follows. However, ASB CAST account does
148
not have followed users (see Table 6). Therefore, the school seems to view Twitter as a channel
to send out the updates for its stakeholders, but not as a tool to interact with others, obtain
feedback on the videos, gather new ideas, etc. 
As the Nike+ community and The Lost Experience case have shown, social media strategies
alone are insufficient. ASB should try to use the Internet as an ‘umbrella’, under which online
and offline activities can be integrated. Thus, the social media marketing initiatives
implemented by ASB could be supplemented with contests, conferences, events or any other
creative activities in the school. For instance, the school could encourage people to blog on their
platform without ‘forcing’ them into creating a whole new blog on ASB Blogs. The peers could
simply share the post that is somehow related to ASB or would be interesting for people at ASB
without establishing a blog. In addition, ASB could reinforce blogging by many different
initiatives. For example, holding a conference for bloggers at ASB, where they all could discuss
the possibilities of ASB Blog platform or how to encourage people to blog; holding a contest of
the best ASB blogger at ASB; or encouraging (or even hiring) a new full-time international
student, who just got to Denmark, blog about his or her experience at the school, the city and in
country. 
Despite of the unsuccessful initiative to create the online community around ASB through
ASByou, Aarhus School of Business should still aim to form a community online. Thus, ASB
could attempt to meet its students’ (as postmodern consumers) need for individualization
through the formation of smaller communities around the different activities related to the
school. For instance, ASB’s virtual life could be a reflection of the different communities and
subcultures that the school comprises. ASB could create a virtual platform, which allowed
internal and external communication between the school and its different stakeholders but also
supported certain micro-communities (such as Alumni, Caféen170, MACC students171, etc.). The
application could allow users to participate in global and specific forums, share content
(pictures, videos), publish practical information, and interact with each other. At the moment,
170
Caféen is the café at ASB. Caféen is part of ASB’s Student Union (SL) and run by students.
171
Master of Arts in Corporate Communication at ASB.
149
all the social media initiatives related to ASB are spread throughout different applications. A
virtual platform could gather all of them together, allowing the users to “subscribe” and
“follow” those in which they are interested. The platform could be inspired in successful tools
such as iGoogle. 150
CONCLUSION
The aim of this research was to investigate how social media can be used as a marketing tool in order to
communicate with postmodern consumers. Thus, this thesis has been presented as an exploratory study,
which attempted to shed some light on the connections between social media and postmodernity from a
marketing perspective. Therefore, in order to accomplish the goal of this paper:

A multiple case study was conducted in order to examine two social media marketing initiatives
carried out by two different corporations. The cases selected, the Nike+ community and The
Lost Experience, were analysed according to postmodern marketing and social media marketing
theories.

A theoretical foundation for the relationship between social media marketing and postmodernity
was proposed, based on the findings derived from the case studies.

A number of recommendations were then provided for companies which attempt to use social
media marketing in postmodernity.

A third case analysis was finally conducted in order to apply the recommendations generated
from the study of the Nike+ community and The Lost Experience to a ‘real case’. Thus, the
social media marketing strategy of Aarhus School of Business was analysed in order to provide
the academic institution with some suggestions on how to use social media for marketing
purposes.
Summary
The present study has contributed to increase the knowledge on the use of social media marketing that
companies are undertaking in postmodernity. Thus, for the purpose of this investigation the researchers
have reconstructed two successful social media marketing initiatives through the employment of
documentary sources. Considered best practice examples, the Nike+ community and The Lost
151
Experience constitute two revolutionary and innovative cases, with a global scope, conducted by two
big corporations in order to engage consumers.
The case studies conducted have shown that the Nike+ community and The Lost Experience enabled
Nike and ABC to cope with some of the main problems that marketers are facing in postmodernity,
such as the malfunction of traditional segmentation techniques and the contradictions present in
consumers. Thus, the chaos, the confusion and the complexity which characterise postmodern
marketing were combated by Nike and ABC through social media marketing initiatives which built
relationships with the users; employed a mix of online and analogue media under an Internet umbrella;
encouraged the creation of communities; and were founded on solid partnerships with other companies.
Additionally, this study has contributed to expand the academic literature on social media marketing by
defining social media marketing and putting forward the following propositions for its theoretical
foundation:
P1: Although in social media marketing the Internet becomes the main channel employed for an
organisation’s marketing communication activities, the medium is normally complemented with the use
of analogue media.
P2: In social media marketing companies pursue to establish a dialogue with consumers, who become
the core of the communications strategy.
P3: The core elements of social media marketing are 1) providing extra value to consumers through
engagement in the communication process, and 2) concentrating on building the relationship with a
customer.
Furthermore, the present study has also explored the relationship between social media marketing and
the postmodern conditions highlighted by Firat & Venkatesh (1995), and emphasise the relevance of
152
hyperreality, fragmentation, the reversal of consumption and production, and the juxtaposition of
communal and individualistic experiences. Thus, this study concluded that:

Hyperreality: reality and hyperreality blend together in social media, which provides companies
with a platform in which they can construct and present hyperreal experiences to postmodern
consumers.

Fragmentation: social media allows companies to hold different “masks” or “identities” at the
same time, emphasise certain aspects of themselves and omit others.

Reversal of consumption and production: social media provides companies with the possibility
of engaging users in a process in which consumption and production are inseparable.
Organisations can achieve a higher level of consumer engagement by allowing them to
participate in the production of content and in product development process.

Juxtaposition of opposites: social media applications support both the individualistic and
communal needs of postmodern consumers. Consequently, social media is a flexible tool for
postmodern marketing, which allows practitioners to carry out both one-to-one and tribal
marketing initiatives.
This research employed an “inductive then deductive” reasoning. Thus, the findings generated from the
analysis of the case studies and the theoretical foundation proposed for social media marketing were
employed to create a number of recommendations for organisations which aim to employ social media
as a marketing tool in the postmodern era. The recommendations were later applied to the case of
Aarhus School of Business. Therefore, the social media marketing strategy of ASB was analysed,
which was mainly based on the data collected through an interview with Nikolaj Høncke Keldorff,
project manager at ASB Media. Finally, further recommendations were suggested to the school for its
social media marketing and communication strategy in a strategical, tactical and operational level.
153
Findings
The implications of this study for theory and practice are summarised by the recommendations given,
as well as its application to the social media marketing strategy of Aarhus School of Business.
In accordance with the two case studies conducted and the literature reviewed, it has been argued that
companies which aim to use social media as a marketing tool in order to communicate with postmodern
consumers should (1) consider the relational part of the communication process as the most significant
part in social media marketing; (2) concentrate on providing functional, but also social and
entertaining value to its consumers; and (3) conceive product consumption as a value creation
activity, and consumers as active contributors to its brand meanings. In doing so, a number of
recommendations have been advised to be taken into account. Thus, companies should monitor the
conversations which are taking place on the cyberspace and not consider the medium a ‘broadcasting
channel’ but a platform for dialogue and conversation.
Furthermore, the analysis conducted on the Nike+ community and The Lost Experience has shown that
social media communication alone may be insufficient. Therefore, this study has proposed to conduct a
mix of analogue and Internet-based actions in order to support any social media marketing strategy.
Both offline and online initiatives then become important in order to involve and engage postmodern
consumers. Similarly, it is advisable to integrate more than one social media tool into one marketing
strategy, although it is important to keep in mind the characteristics of each application and the
expectations of its users. Moreover, social media marketing strategies should (1) be as fun and original
as possible in order to complement their utilitarian value and motivate consumers to continue using
them; (2) be conceived as a way of expanding consumers’ experience after the purchase; (3) allow
customer-to-customer communication; (4) permit the customisation of content; and (5) support, and
even take advantage of, the postmodern conditions (hyperreality, fragmentation, reversal of
production and consumption, juxtaposition of opposites, decentred subject).
154
Finally, the findings of this study have been applied to the case of ASB in order to evaluate its
strengths and weaknesses, and provide further recommendations to its social media marketing strategy.
Thus, the researchers concluded that the school has recognised the importance of social media through
the adhesion of a social media strategy to its general communication strategy, and its desire for
centralising all the social media initiatives related to ASB. As the interview with Keldorff has shown,
the institution is aware of the ability of social media to help establish and maintain relationships with
its stakeholder groups, and have already explored a number of social media tools for different purposes.
Nevertheless, through its social media initiatives ASB has focused almost exclusively on providing
functional value to its stakeholders, while the social and entertaining aspects have been relegated.
Additionally, ASB has mainly employed social media as a broadcasting channel, disregarding its role
as listener and receiver of information, as well as intermediary between the different stakeholder
groups and a facilitator of user-to-user communication.
Research agenda
The authors of this thesis encourage further research on the connection between social media marketing
and postmodernity, in order to validate social media as a useful tool for postmodern marketing.
First, further research could be conducted on the subject from a consumer perspective. Thus, through
the conduction of interviews and focus groups researchers would be able to contrast the validity of
social media as a medium which meets the needs and expectations of postmodern consumers.
Second, research needs to examine and compare the social media marketing strategies carried out by
companies within the same industry or sector, in order to find what they have in common and define
possible patterns.
Third, in order to corroborate the ability of social media as a marketing communication tool, further
research could be conducted on the connection between social media marketing and other approaches
to marketing, such as Integrated Marketing Communication. Therefore, an analysis the IMC of various
companies could be carried out in order to describe the role of social media in the whole strategy and
155
investigate whether social media contributes to the centralisation of the information and the alignment
of a company’s messages despite the challenges brought to the discipline by postmodernity.
Finally, further research could conduct a grounded theory approach in order to validate the findings of
the present study and develop the theory generated. Solid theory could emerge from this approach in
order to extent or modify the existing theory.
Concluding reflections
Marketing professionals and scholars are witnessing the emergence of social media as a completely
new communication tool for directing their marketing messages. This paper has concluded that social
media can be used to address postmodern consumers because of its flexibility and intrinsic
characteristics. Thus, social media marketing has the potential of becoming a valuable tool for both
academicians and practitioners, since it assists in the management of the chaos, change, complexity,
and contradiction which characterise postmodern marketing.
The paper has documented the use of two ground-breaking social media strategies; extended the current
literature on social media marketing; and offered some recommendations to companies which aim to
implement social media marketing strategies in order to communicate with postmodern consumers.
Additionally, the findings of this paper have been also applied to the case of a real organisation. The
research suggested Aarhus School of Business to provide not only functional, but also social and
entertaining values through its social media strategy, as well as change from ‘broadcaster’ to ‘mediator’
and ‘facilitator’ of conversations.
156
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Questions for the Nike interview
1. Nike has always seemed like a company that would like to fully control all of their
communication activities. However, the company is very open to social media and very
active in this medium (blogs, YouTube channels, online communities, last.fm groups, viral
campaigns, etc.). What has encouraged Nike to move a part of their communications to
social media?
2. Was there any fear of criticism? How does the company deal with that? Can you provide
any examples?
3. Nike+ has been a very successful initiative. How do you measure the success of it? How
successful is it?
4. What kind of consumers did you have in mind when you launched Nike+? Has the picture of
them changed now, after three years?
5. What kind of consumers’ consumption needs do you think Nike+ is addressing?
6. What do you think is the most important for your customers that are using Nike+ - brand,
function of the device, sports, being a part of community, etc.?
7. Nike+ has its channel on YouTube, a Twitter, Last.fm account. However, they haven’t been
active for few months. Nike+ is also officially not represented on biggest social networking
site Facebook. Are there any particular reasons for that? Do you think these channels are not
attractive enough, and attract too little people?
8. How much do you focus on advertising Nike+ offline, by using traditional mass
communication tools?
9. What about the future of Nike+? Do you have any ideas how to make the community’s
online experience even better?
10. Does Nike has any plans to continue do something more with social media?
11. How is Nike making decisions about where to invest energy and time in social media?
12. What are some of the common issues large organizations encounter when trying to evaluate
and adopt social media technologies?
13. What do you think it will be the newest social media trend one year from now?
174
Appendix 2: Social Media Types
Source: Personal compilation
1. Communication

Blogs
A website that enables an individual user or corporation, the blog owner (blogger), to publish
opinions, commentaries news, pictures and videos- in essence to broadcast, without using a big
media channel. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject (such as
technology, travel, fashion, or politics), while others function as personal online diaries.
A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Websites, and other media related to
its topic. Thus, most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), pictures
(photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting).
Examples of corporate blogs include www.direct2dell.com (Dell),
blogs.sun.com
(Sun
Microsystems),
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs (BBC),
fastlane.gmblogs.com
googleblog.blogspot.com (Google) or www.benettontalk.com (Benetton).
(General
Motors),
Some examples of
popular personal blogs are: www.karencheng.com.au (a blog on women’s lifestyle),
www.chrisbrogan.com (a blog on social media), zenhabits.net (a blog on simple living),
thesartorialist.blogspot.com (a blog on fashion)
Users can create blogs on specialized blog hosting services such as Blogger, TypePad, and
WordPRess, which are specialized forms of content management softwares.

Micro-blogs and presence applications
Social networks combined with small blogs. Micro-blogs distribute online or through mobile
phones little bits of information.
Examples:
twitter.com (Twitter), www.jaiku.com (Jaiku), www.tumblr.com (Tumblr), and
www.plurk.com (Plurk).

Social networks
Websites that allow users to create their own pages, keep in touch with friends, and build a personal
network.
Examples
of
online
social
networks
are
www.facebook.com
(Facebook),
www.linkedin.com (LinkedIn), www.myspace.com (MySpace), hi5.com (Hi5), or www.bebo.com
(bebo).
175

Events
Social calendars for sharing information about events, often in a specific area. Examples of social
calendars upcoming.yahoo.com (Upcoming), www.zvents.com (Zvents), and www.empressr.com
(Empressr).

Monitoring and Filtering
Social media aggregators allow users to monitor and organise their subscriptions to RSS feeds from
several websites as well as sharing them with others.A news aggregation website is a website where
headlines are collected, usually manually, by the website owner. Social media aggregators reduce
the time and effort needed to regularly check websites for updates, creating a unique information
space or "personal newspaper." Examples of social media are www.google.es/reader (Google
Reader), www.netvibes.com (Netvibes), or www.bloglines.com (Bloglines).

Forums and Discussion Groups
Online areas for discussion, often about specific topics.mExamples: groups.google.com (Google
Groups), groups.yahoo.com (Yahoo! Groups), groups.live.com (Windows Live Groups).
2. Collaboration

Wikis
Websites, which allow people to add or edit information on them. Wikis enable users to co-create,
to collaboratively develop content that often develops into shared knowledge repositories:
www.wikipedia.org (Wikipedia), pbworks.com (PBWiki),
(http://sites.google.com,
MediaWiki
TWiki, DocuWiki, Google Sites
(http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki,
Socialtext
(http://www.socialtext.com)

Social bookmarking
Communities which allow users to organise and share their bookmarked links. Social bookmarking
enables users to manage bookmarks—web page locations known as URLs—for sites they wish to
remember or share with others. Examples: delicious.com (Delicious), www.diigo.com (Diigo), and
www.stumbleupon.com (StumbleUpon).

Social news sites
176
Websites that allow users to share links and stories, vote, and comment on them. Examples:
digg.com (Digg), www.newsvine.com (Newsvine), www.mixx.com (Mixx), www.hubdub.com
(Hubdub), and www.reddit.com (Reddit ).

Social productivity and document sharing
Examples: docs.google.com (Google Docs), www.scribd.com (scribd), and www.docstoc.com
(Docstoc).
3. Multimedia

Photo sharing
Applications which provides users with the possibility of managing and sharing pictures. Examples:
www.Flickr.com (Flickr), www.smugmug.com (SmugMug), and picasa.google.com (Picasa).

Video sharing
Communities which allow users to organise and share videos. Examples: www.YouTube.com
(YouTube),
www.vimeo.com
(Vimeo),
www.dailymotion.com
(DailyMotion),
and
www.viddler.com (Viddler).

Live casting
Live broadcast of user’s personal events. (video+ audio). Examples of live casting platforms
include: www.blogtv.com (BlogTV), www.justin.tv (Justin.tv), and www.Ustream.tv (Ustream).

Podcasting
Audio and video (digital media) files available through subscription and services like Apple iTunes.
Example: www.podcast.net

Audio and Music sharing
Examples: www.imeem.com (imeem), hypem.com (The Hype Machine), www.last.fm (Last.fm),
ccmixter.org (ccMixter), spotify.com (Spotify).
177
4. Entertainment

Virtual reality
Advanced level of social networking that allows users to interact with each other, using avatars
(virtual representations of themselves). Examples of virtual reality sites are: www.SecondLife.com
(Second Life), thesims.ea.com (The Sims Online), www.forterrainc.com (Forterra).

Online gaming
Sites allowing users to play computer games online together and/or compete with each other, such
as: www.worldofwarcraft.com (World of Warcraft Community Site), everquest.station.sony.com
(EverQuest Universe), and www.ageofconan.com (Age of Conan).

Game sharing
Sites allowing users to play, download, or share various internet-based games. For example:
www.Miniclip.com (Miniclip).
References
iCrossing. (2007). What is social media? An e-book of iCrossing. Retrieved on May 1st, 2008 from
http://www.icrossing.co.uk/fileadmin/uploads/eBooks/What_is_social_media_Nov_2007.pdf.
Gillin, P. (2007). The new influencers: a marketer’s guide to the new social media. Sanger,
California, USA: Quill Driver books/World Dancer Press, Inc.
Mangold, W., & Faulds, D. (2009). Social Media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix.
Business Horizons , 52 (4), 357-365.
Ministry of Small Businesses and Consumer Services of Ontario. (2008). Ministry of Small
Businesses and Consumer Services of Ontario. Recuperado el 27 de 08 de 2009, de
http://www.sbe.gov.on.ca/ontcan/sbe/downloads/ebusiness/eBus_social_marketing_media_en.pdf
Sankar, K., & Bouchard, S. A. (2009). Enterprise Web 2.0 Fundamentals. Cisco Press.
Solis, B., & Breakenridge, D. (2009). Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social
Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR. FT Press.
178
Appendix 3: Nike-related documents
1) Screenshots from Nike+.
2) Screenshots from Nike Human Race 2009
3) The Lessons of Nike+ They Just Did It: Nike's Social Strategy.
4) R/GA video about their project Nike Plus
5) Nike, Inc. Press Release (19th August, 2009)
6) Nike, Inc. Press Release (13 July, 2009)
7) Nike, Inc. Press Release (23 May, 2006)
8) Nike, Inc. Blog post in Nike Running (30 October, 2009)
9) Noone’s , Inc. Blog post in Nike Running (6 June, 2008)
10) Noone’s , Inc. Blog post in Nike Running (17 March, 2009)
1) Screenshots from Nike+.
Nike+ Beat your best front page
179
Nike+ Beat your best Run more often page.
Nike+ Beat your best, Run farther page.
Nike+ Beat your best, Burn calories page.
180
Nike+ Beat your best, Run faster page.
Nike+ Beat your best, Set coach programme or Train like a Pro page.
181
Nike+ Beat your best, Set coach programme or Train like a Pro, Walk to run page
Nike+ Compete with friends page
Nike+ Get motivated page (after creating a mini version of the user)
182
2) Screenshots from Nike Human Race 2009
The Human Race 10K front page “Race day”
The Human Race 10K front page “Race day”, Nike+ Runners’ page
183
The Human Race 10K front page “Race day”, Country rank page
The Human Race 10K front page “Race day”, blog
184
3) The Lessons of Nike+ They Just Did It: Nike's Social Strategy.
Document: Video file
Title: The Lessons of Nike+ They Just Did It: Nike's Social Strategy
Author: Jay Greene
Source: Business Week (http://www.businessweek.com/)
Published: 5 November, 2008
Available at:
http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/video/innovation/61bf06740ddde17bfe9a36394eef79ec
721150e3.html
Referenced as: (Olander, 2008)
Retrieved: 31 September 2009
Transcribed interview:
Paragraph
number
Jay Greene (JG): I am Jay Greene, this is Week’s CR Live Archive. Here with me is
1
2
3
Stefan Olander from Nike to talk about Nike Plus technology. Stefan, let‘s start with
the basics. Tell me about Nike Plus.
Stefan Olander (SO): It‘s a system, an experience that we have set up, that actually
helps you track how you are doing when you are out for a run. In the way that it has
never been done before. So a little sensor in your left shoe pings out a signal with
every strike you take. So you get to know all the time how fast you’re going, how
forth you’ve gone, how many calories you’ve burned. There are two ways of actually
getting the data. One is through iPod Nano. It feeds you through audio, through your
headphones, over your music all the data. Or through our SportBand, which has a
little USB connected that receives your data that you then push into the system on
Nikeplus.com.
It’s a fascinating experience. Once you start using it, you realise that it’s really hard
to run without it. Once you’ve gotten used to this instant information – how fast or
how long, - one of the most compelling and important things it’s not just a data at the
time of the run. But the fact that it gives you a currency that you can keep it with you
that you keep building. It’s like “my energy, my miles are worth something. I can use
that to challenge people, to get into set myself goals.” And all that makes for much
richer experience after the actual run. And once we started making it possible for
185
anyone in the community to connect with anyone anywhere in the world, both
through their running data, but also through our forums and just talking to people. It
opened up the whole new world for this community that was never existent before.
So you could do something what you did on a micro-scale with your friends, now
you can do that with anyone. And it’s really, the great fun is that usually you have
people in a lot of different places, now out of the sudden if you set up a challenge
with 4, or 5, or 10, or 50 people, every single day you see how you are doing or how
they are doing, but you don’t have to pick up phones and call each other.
JG: Has it been successful?
SO: Incredibly. We are so happy with the development and with the response from
4
5
6
7
8
the community. We’ve learned a lot from the community. I think that it is one of the
other things. We have open forums and they have the ability – as the consumers – to
come and participate. If there are things that we can improve, which – you know,
everything can be always improved, - we get to learn that so fast from our
community and get response to it. And, I think, that is a beauty of this like we help
each other to get better and that’s been tremendous feedback from the group. I mean,
we have over 100 million kilometres (68 million miles), I think this is current total
accumulated distance covered by this community, which is incredible in terms of that
that much running time by a group is absolutely fascinating.
JG: What did you learn from Nike Plus so far?
SO: I think it needs to be value driven from the perspective of the consumer. So
whenever you put out things for any other reason than making it better for them, I
think, the response will not be as positive. And, I think, we have been really careful
in doing so and really make sure that when we launch a new feature, when we
improve something, the starting point isn’t for us to figure out how we can know
more about you, but, actually, how we can make your run better. And, I think, that
balance is really important when you have the community and they’re really sensitive
to the fact that it is for them and by them.
JG: Has Nike Plus helped company to sell more running shoes?
186
SO: Absolutely yes. We’ve seen grate conversions. So what we do in our continuous
9
surveys is we see the relative market share that we gain from other brands. And it
gives us tremendous opportunity if someone is used to running in another brand and
they like another brand, once you start using Nike Plus, you have a really good
reason to try out Nike’s like of shoes. And we like to think that we have, you know,
fantastic running shoe like, but a lot of that is what you are used to. So if you
someone is used to another brand, the only reason could be communication, now
another reason is the community, and you have another reason to try it out. And we
have seen great results in terms of increasing our market share through Plus. So for
us it was really... even the footwear group said that you have to look at this through
longer-term lens, and it’s been phenomenal for us to see how that just became a
gateway into Nike brand.
JG: Can you replicate success of Nike Plus to other categories?
SO: I am convinced that the learning we’ve drawn from what Plus does from
10 11 behavioural perspective, absolutely we’ll be able to use it and replicate this. And I
don’t think that it necessarily means always using the same technological solution
with a chip in your shoe and a receiver, but the insight that you can use digital
technology and make sure that both the community angle of it, and all the social
interaction, all these layers we can definitely use them in other categories. And we’ve
got couple of things going that points towards that. And we’re really excited about
that was well. We launched the Ballers Network in basketball, which is taking the
social side of things, and that is just scratching the surface of what we can do in that
category. I think, every category has something where both the use of data, and the
use of social interaction can be used to really create something new that no one else
has done before.
JG: That’s great Stefan. Thanks for talking with me today!
SO: Thank you!
12 13 187
4) R/GA video about their project Nike Plus.
Document: Video file
Title: Nike+ video
Author: R/GA
Source: R/GA corporate website (http://www.rga.com/)
Published: 2007
Available at: http://www.rga.com/award/nikeplus_video.html
Description: Transcription of a video produced by R/GA about their project with Nike Plus. The
present transcript reproduces the main information about Nike Plus, its community, and future
plans.
Referenced as: (R/GA, 2007b)
Retrieved: 18 October 2009
Capture of the website, where video is uploaded Available at URL: http://www.rga.com/award/nikeplus.html 188
Nike+ video transcript:
Paragraph
number
The Big Idea [shown on screen]
[Voiceover]: Nike was born as a running company. In recent years they were losing
1
2
3
4
5
6
their core audience of runners: the competitors were aggressively challenging Nike’s
dominance in the category. In 2006 we helped Nike to reconnect with its heart and
soul. It started with a simple observation. People loved listening to music when they
run. That inspired a new product, a new class of experience, a new revolution in
marketing and support that appealed to a mass audience of runners, as well as those
who never considered running before. When Nike teamed up with Apple they called
an R/GA to help create the Nike Plus digital experience.
What it is [shown on screen]
[Voiceover]: Nike Plus creates a completely new category where the product, the
online experience and marketing are inseparable. A sensor in your shoe tracks your
running data and transmits it to your iPod.
And when you get home and sync your iPod, Nikeplus.com is where it all comes
together. Instead of fading into memories, your runs in the real world become
meaningful assets in a digital world. You can compare runs, track your progress, set
and manage goals, and issue individual or team challenges to other Nike Plus runners
around the world.
Desktop widgets, scrapable media, an RSS feeds extend the foundation of Nike
experience into a fun and active communication platform. To reinforce the Nike Plus
community runners use Map It feature to chart their favourite routs and share them
with other runners. They connect with and support each other, and form challenges
through the global forums. And they use Trash Talk feature to push and provoke one
another. Whereas most of initiatives focus on enticing consumer to complete the
purchase, Nike Plus continues to engage the consumer long after the transaction has
occurred, keeping Nike Plus runners motivated and connected with each other and
189
with a brand.
The community [shown on screen]
In less than a year Nike Plus runners have ran an outstanding 10 million miles that is
7
8
9
401 times around the Earth.
Chicago Challenge [shown on screen]
In the fall Nike Plus runners in Chicago chose to run for the North Side or the South
Side.
[Fox News video extract]
10 [News girl]: “It’s Northsiders versus Southsiders. I’m not talking baseball”
[Jill Lochman, Soutside team]: “You can log your miles to either North side or
South side. .. And help South side who is now ahead 14 miles at this point.”
New Years Challenge [shown on screen]
11 Our New Year’s resolution brought 50 thousand new members for Nike Plus.
[Maria Sharapova]: “Lebron James, I have a New Year’s resolution. I am going to
12 run more miles in January than you. If I don’t beat you Lebron, I will sit behind you
in the game and be your water-boy. But if I win, you have to be a ball-boy at my
match.”
Lance Amstrong Challenge [shown on screen]
13 In At the dollar for a mile match seven thousand Nike Plus runners in just a matter of
days to run 50 thousand miles to raise 50 thousand dollars for Lance Armstrong
foundation.
To date every Nike Plus runner has set a personal goal, half of the community is
14 involved in some form of challenge. Over 400 sites carry Nike’s widgets or feature a
Nike Plus channel. Runners from every corner of the world have uploaded scraped
media from Nikeplus.com to their personal website, their page on their social site or
190
their blog.
Nike Plus was designed to appeal a wide range of runners. Today people of all ages,
15 of every shape and size, and ability are now Nike Plus runners.
16 The Future [shown on screen]
Nike Plus is reinventing running as a fun, social, digitally enhanced sports. It has re-
17 established Nike’s dominance in the category as countless runners new to a brand has
discovered the superior performance of Nike running shoes. And former loyalists
around the world are now reconnecting with the brand.
At the same time Nike Plus is revolutionising marketing. Consumers expecting more
18 from a brand than static outbound messaging, and Nike Plus redefines how brand can
reach
its
audience
through
meaningful
personal
experiences,
two-way
communication and innovative technology. Nike Plus sets the standard for the new
era wearable network computing devices from phones to watches to sunglasses, to
countless other devices.
In the future the Nike Plus platform will continue to evolve and adapt to athletes
19 needs and set the standards for how all brands will eventually live in the digital
world. And as Nike Plus community grows, the best is yet to come.
191
5)
Nike, Inc. Press Release (19th August, 2009)
Document: Press release
Title: Nike Announces Global “Nike+ Human Race 2009” the Day the World Runs, Virtually
Author: Nike, Inc.
Source: http://www.nikebiz.com/
Published: 19 August, 2009
Available at: http://www.nikebiz.com/media/pr/2009/08/19_NikeGlobalHumanRace.html
Referenced as: (Nike, Inc., 2009a)
Nike Announces Global "Nike+ Human Race 2009" the Day the World Runs,
Virtually [19 August, 2009]
Runners Around the World Run Together for a 10k Race on October 24, 2009
BEAVERTON, Ore. (August 19, 2009) – Today NIKE, Inc (NKE – NYSE) kicked off
registration for the Nike+ Human Race 2009, a 10k worldwide running event back for its second
year. With nearly 780,000 participants in its inaugural year, this multi-city event will take place on
October 24, 2009 celebrating the sport of running by giving runners everywhere the opportunity to
run together.
Nike-hosted Human Race events will be held in more than 24 cities from New York City to Los
Angeles, Buenos Aires to Rome. Through Nikeplus.com, however, every city and every road can
become a race day course. By combining the virtual running world with the physical, the Nike+
Human Race is open to anyone, anywhere.
Race registration opens August 18 on Nikeplus.com. By registering, runners will be able to
participate in one of several Nike-hosted events or choose to run where they are on race day. The
“Run Where You Are” option allows runners to run anywhere on race day by using the Nike+ iPod
Sport Kit and logging a 10k run that day. Members of Nikeplus.com can also take advantage of
online training tools and experience the full depth of the Nike+ community, which already reaches
close to 2 million runners worldwide.
In the United States, Nike-hosted Human Race events will take place in New York City at Prospect
Park, the University of Southern California, and The Ohio State University campus. Each of these
three events will host post race festivities for participants on race day and a portion of race-day fees
will go to local non-profit organizations. In addition, dozens of other Nike-organized runs will take
place at local event partners and retailers.
192
Visit Nikeplus.com to register for the Nike+ Human Race as well as find out about the many run
locations, charitable details and race festivities.
About Nike
NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor
of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and
fitness activities. Wholly owned Nike subsidiaries include Cole Haan Holdings Incorporated, which
designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Converse Inc.,
which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Hurley
International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle
footwear, apparel and accessories; and Umbro Ltd., a leading United Kingdom-based global
football (soccer) brand. For more information, visit www.nikebiz.com.
6) Nike, Inc. Press Release (13 July, 2009)
Title: Nike Introduces New Nike+ SportBand and Enhanced Digital Running Destination
Author: Nike, Inc.
Published: 13 July, 2009
Available at: http://www.nikebiz.com/media/pr/2009/07/13_SportBand.html
Referenced as: (Nike, Inc., 2009e)
Nike Introduces New Nike+ SportBand and Enhanced Digital Running
Destination [13 July, 2009]
NikePlus.com Merges with NikeRunning.com to Create Ultimate Running Site
BEAVERTON, Ore. (July 13, 2009) – Today NIKE, Inc. introduced the new Nike+ SportBand,
giving runners real-time performance feedback on their distance, pace, time and calories burned
with just a glance at their wrist. Nike also redefined the online running experience by merging the
successful site nikeplus.com and its close to 2 million members together with nikerunning.com.
Nike+ SportBand
The Nike+ SportBand features a new screen with a white background to enhance visibility and a
welded seal to improve water resistance. It will be available in grey with an interior pink band,
anthracite (dark grey) with a yellow interior band, and black with a red interior band. Runners who
enjoy listening to music may continue to hear their run details through the Apple iPod nano, iTouch
or iPhone systems. The Nike+ SportBand will be available in the U.S. on July 15, with a suggested
retail price of $59 USD.
193
“We’re giving runners a seamless, comprehensive, one-stop online destination for all their needs,”
said Leslie Lane Global Vice President and General Manager for Nike Running. “From finding the
right gear, the latest event details, tracking progress and connecting to friends through Nike+, we’re
helping runners hit a new stride.”
NikePlus.com
Nike has merged the popular nikeplus.com website and its close to 2 million members with
nikerunning.com to give users a one-stop running destination online. In addition, nikeplus.com has
added many new features and social media opportunities including:
Personalization – The new navigational system includes a customizable homepage for members
providing at-a-glance views of your training, progress in goals and challenges, and your Nike+
Mini. Now runners can personalize every run to illustrate their mood, weather, terrain, route and
more.
Find Your Friends – Runners will now be able to search for like-minded and similarly-skilled
runners, accept new friend requests and initiate challenges in conjunction with their favorite social
media platforms. And because no good run should go unpublished, runners can broadcast their own
successes beyond Nike+, with automatic updates to Facebook status, Twitter feeds and much more.
Upgraded Challenges – Once runners tap into their own personal running network, Nike+ will
now recommend challenges from the gallery to help inspire a little healthy competition with other
runners who have similar running styles or profiles.
New Shoe Finder – This feature asks runners to answer a few simple questions in order to receive a
customized shoe recommendation based on the latest shoe technology.
Improved Goals and Challenges – In addition to helpful news, training tips, and event details, the
newly redesigned site also features new professional coaching programs from some of Nike’s top
running coaches and athletes. Runners can choose from a pre-set coaching program, or personalize
their own routine and goals with more flexibility.
Lastly, Nike is launching a Nike+ iPhone mobile site to give users access to Nike+ data anywhere.
About Nike
NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor
of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and
fitness activities. Wholly owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse Inc., which designs, markets
and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Cole Haan Holdings Incorporated, which
designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Umbro Ltd., a
leading United Kingdom-based global football (soccer) brand; and Hurley International LLC, which
designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories.
For more information, visit www.nikebiz.com.
194
7)
Nike, Inc. Press Release (23 May, 2006)
Title: Nike and Apple Team Up to Launch Nike + iPod
Author: Nike, Inc.
Published: 23 May, 2006
Available at: http://www.nikebiz.com/media/pr/2006/05/23_nikePlus.html
Referenced as: (Nike, Inc., 2006)
Nike and Apple Team Up to Launch Nike + iPod [23 May, 2006]
Global collaboration brings the worlds of sports and music together like never before
New York (23 May, 2006) – Nike and Apple® today announced a partnership bringing the worlds
of sports and music together like never before with the launch of innovative Nike + iPod products.
The first product developed through this partnership is the Nike + iPod Sport Kit, a wireless system
that allows Nike+ footwear to talk with your iPod® nano to connect you to the ultimate personal
running and workout experience.
Nike CEO Mark Parker and Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled Nike + iPod at an event in New York
attended by seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and marathon world recordholder Paula Radcliffe.
“Nike + iPod is a partnership between two iconic, global brands with a shared passion for creating
meaningful consumer product experiences through design and innovation,” Parker said. “This is the
first result, and Nike + iPod will change the way people run. Nike + iPod creates a better running
experience. We see many more such Nike+ innovations in the future.”
"We're working with Nike to take music and sport to a new level," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO.
"The result is like having a personal coach or training partner motivating you every step of your
workout."
The new Nike+ Air Zoom Moire is the first footwear designed to talk to iPod. Nike plans to make
many of its leading footwear styles Nike+ ready, connecting millions of consumers to the Nike +
iPod experience. With the Nike+ footwear connected to iPod nano through the Nike + iPod Sport
Kit, information on time, distance, calories burned and pace is stored on iPod and displayed on the
screen; real-time audible feedback also is provided through headphones. The kit includes an in-shoe
sensor and a receiver that attaches to iPod. A new Nike Sport Music section on the iTunes® Music
Store and a new nikeplus.com personal service site help maximize the Nike + iPod experience.
Armstrong, who is preparing for his first NY Marathon, said, “If you can incorporate time, distance
and calories burned together and make it function for both the fitness runner and the high level
athlete, it will take working out to a whole other level.”
195
“I definitely use music both ways,” Radcliffe said. “I listen to faster music if I am doing a workout
in the gym to just get the best out of myself, but I also use it to help me relax in the buildup to a big
race.”
Specially designed Nike apparel, including jackets, tops, shorts and an iPod nano armband, bring
together the Nike + iPod experience with waterproof pockets that accommodate iPod nano and are
designed to make it easy to operate while staying tuned to your music during an active workout.
Pricing & Availability
The Nike + iPod Sport Kit is expected to be available within 60 days for a suggested retail price of
$29 (US) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, Apple Authorized
Resellers as well as Nike.com (www.nike.com) Niketown, NikeWomen stores and select retail
stores in the US.
The Nike + iPod Sport Kit requires a Nike+ shoe and a iPod nano with Mac® with a USB 2.0 and
Mac OS® X version 10.3.9 or later and iTunes 6.0.5; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and
Windows 2000, XP Home or Professional (SP2) and iTunes 6.0.5.
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) based near Beaverton, Oregon is the world's leading designer, marketer
and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety
of sports and fitness activities. Wholly owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse Inc., which
designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Bauer NIKE Hockey
Inc., a leading designer and distributor of hockey equipment; Cole Haan, which designs, markets,
and distributes fine dress and casual shoes and accessories; Hurley International LLC, which
designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories
and Exeter Brands Group LLC, which designs and markets athletic footwear and apparel for the
value retail channel.
8)
Nike, Inc. Blog post in Nike Running (30 October, 2009)
Document: Blog post
Title: Nike+ Human Race 2009 Inspired Hundreds of Thousand of Runners to Lace Up and Run
Author: Nike, Inc.
Source: http://www.nike.com/
Published: 30 October, 2009
Available at: http://inside.nike.com/blogs/nikerunning_humanrace-en_US/2009/10/30/nikehuman-race-2009-inspired-hundreds-of-thousand-of-runners-to-lace-up-and-run
Retrieved: 2 November 2009
Referenced as: (Nike, Inc., 2009c)
Nike+ Human Race 2009 Inspired Hundreds of Thousand of Runners to Lace
Up and Run [30 October, 2009]
On 10.24.2009—The Day The World Ran—Nike hosted the second annual Nike+ Human Race
10K. Hundreds of thousands of runners hit the road as part of the world’s largest one-day running
event. Nike+ Human Race events were held in 27 cities globally, from Los Angeles to Seoul and
from Tel Aviv to Rome. Thousands more participated in the event by logging their own 10K runs
196
on race day using their Nike+ Sport Kit or Nike+ Sportband.
The Nike+ Human Race debuted in 2008 with the purpose of celebrating runners and their sport
while uniting athletes worldwide through the ultimate running experience. Many of the runners who
participated in the race, also trained by using the tools provided at nikeplus.com, which has more
than 2 million members worldwide. Members of this digital running club have logged more than
175 million miles (almost 281 million kms).
Leading up to race day, close to 140,000 people participated in Nike+ Human Race training runs
around the world.
"The Nike+ Human Race continues to inspire and motivate runners worldwide. We look forward to
continuing to provide runners with unique and exciting running experiences that will keep them
connected with runners all over the world", said Leslie Lane, Nike’s VP of Global Running.
Don't forget to check out images from the races around the world on the Nike Running Facebook
page.
Congrats to all who ran the 2009 Nike+ Human Race!
9)
Noone’s , Inc. Blog post in Nike Running (6 June, 2008)
Document: Blog post + snapshots
Title: Nike + iPod Sport Kit - A Review
Author: Noone, V.
Source: Roni's Weight: One mom's journey from fat to skinny to healthy
Published: 6 June, 2008
Available at: http://ronisweigh.com/2008/06/nike-ipod-sport-kit-review.html
Retrieved: 14 October, 2009
Referenced as: (Noone, 2008)
Nike + iPod Sport Kit - A Review [6 June, 2008]
Update: Check out my latest post on the Nike+ and other devises I use when I run1.
I’m going to hold off on my journal entry tonight. I’m just not in the mood BUT I had to share my
experience with the Apple Nike + iPod Thingamajig (I’m really not sure what to call it, can you
tell?)
1
http://ronisweigh.com/2009/03/my-running-partner-the-ipodnike.html 197
I’ll start by saying, IT IS AWESOME! For a stat girl like me I can’t wait to start charting all my
runs and tracking them. The great thing, is it requires no work on your part besides plugging the
iPod in. I was amazed.
Here’s how it works.
First, you need an older ipod nano, like these. They are the ones that have the right sized
connection. a Nano. I was wrong, you just need a Nano!, sorry.
If you have the right nano you plug in a small device into the iPod. Then you put the little Nike chip
in or on your shoe. I don’t actually have Nike shoes so I used this shoe pouch and attached it to my
laces.
That’s it! Now go run!
When you get back, plug the iPod in to sync, it will ask you if you want to save the data and then
viola you get a visual of your run, like this…
How COOL is that?!?
Now, I added the blue text to point a couple of things out like the ability to name and describe the
run. I also loved the fact I could see where I walked for a few seconds. I just think this is really neat.
I don’t know about you, but I find this very motivating. I just want to run so I can get a new little
graph! (I’m such a geek)
I know some of you out there have used it, anyone want to share their opinion? Anyone not think
it’s the coolest gadget ever? Just curious. Honestly, I was quite shocked it was only $29. It seems
like a pretty fair price to me considering the ease of use and cool tracking stats.
OK, gotta run, it’s too late, I shouldn’t be up. Throwing a party tomorrow, I’ll tell you all about it
this weekend. :~)
Update: Check out my latest post on the Nike+ and other devises I use when I run.
198
10)
Noone’s , Inc. Blog post in Nike Running (17 March, 2009)
Document: Blog post + snapshots
Title: My Running Partner - The iPod/Nike+
Author: Noone, V.
Source: Roni's Weight: One mom's journey from fat to skinny to healthy
Published: 17 March, 2009
Available at: http://ronisweigh.com/2008/06/nike-ipod-sport-kit-review.html
Retrieved: 14 October, 2009
Referenced as: (Noone, 2009)
My Running Partner - The iPod/Nike+ [March 17, 2009]
Tammy recently sent me this message on Facebook…
Hi Roni! A couple things I wanted to ask you –
You have an iPod right? how are you able to have the screen that says how many miles you did,
your pace, etc.? is it something you have to load? what a great way to track progress.
-Tammy
She’s not alone, my inbox is full of questions about the little running charts I post with the iPod. So
I think it’s time to lay it all out there.
WAY back when (holy crap it’s been almost a year) I wrote a review about little device called
Nike+ iPod Sport Kit. At that time I was only running for a few weeks and recently finished my
first 5K. I immediately LOVED the device.
Why?
1. First of all I’m a music whore. I’m one of those people who stayed up for hours and hours when I
got my first iPod to "rip" all of my CDs. I love my iPod and I won’t run without it anyway. So being
able to track with it is a bonus!
2. Second, I’m a stat whore. *cough* have you seen my weight progress page? I swear it was on of the
reasons I didn’t miss a meeting while losing. I really didn’t want a whole in my chart! (By the way..
I just noticed I haven’t weighed in since JAN! wow time flies–I must go to meeting.)
3. Third, I like to be "in the know" when I’m running I need to know how far I’ve gone, how much I
have left, and so on. Sometimes I don’t have to know but I like knowing that I can know if I really
199
want to know. Know what I mean? :) I really don’t understand how people run WITHOUT some
device that let’s them know. Maybe it’s because I don’t pre-plan my routes much. I learned to run
with the Nike+ so I guess you can say I’m spoiled. I hit a button and a little voice says "You’ve ran
1.7 miles." or ".6 miles to go." or my FAVORITE "You’ve just reached your goal of 8 miles." :)
OK, so that’s the WHY… Here’s the HOW… All my iPod paraphernalia…
Apple iPod nano
This is my iPod. Notice the color. :) I bought it after the iPod fiasco that happened in the fall.
Griffin Arm Band
This is the first arm band I’ve liked. It’s comfy. It doesn’t fall down or loosen. There’s a swivel head
so I can turn the face of the iPod to see while I’m running. And it totally beats putting the iPod in my
bra strap which is what I used to do. :~P
The Nike+ iPod Sports Kit
This is the what puts the running brains into the iPod. It’s can’t be easier to use. You plug it into the
iPod put the tracker in your shoe and start running. I mean seriously. I was shocked at it’s simplicity.
You can set the distance or times of your runs. It gives audio feedback. Tracks your history, etc.
When you sync your iPod after a run iTunes (free) will ask if you want to send the data to the Nike+
website. You say yes and *tada* magically there’s a chart of your run. Just like this…
Create an account there, join challenges, set goals, create training programs. Really the site has
everything you need as a runner. It’s not only it’s easy. It’s FUN! Check out the graph of my runs for
the last few months. Talk about visual motivation.
200
Shoe Pouch
Finally, the only other piece of equipment I have is the shoe pouch to hold the Nike+. Many people
believe you have to buy Nike shoes to use the device. It’s simply not true. I have never bought or
owned a pair of Nike running shoes and I’ve been using the Nike+ for almost a year. For 6 bucks
you can turn any pair of running shoes into a Nike+ compatible shoe.
That’s it! Those 4 things make up the best running partner for me. Honestly, I’m not sure I’d find it
as much fun without the Nike+.
And for all the walkers out there.. YES you can use it too. It will track walking. :)
Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
201
Appendix 4: Lost-related documents
1) ABC Group Press Release (12 May 2005).
2) Transcript from an official ABC podcast (28 March 2006).
3) ABC Group Press Release (25 April 2006).
4) ABC Group Press Release (15 July 2006).
5) Interview with Lost Executive produces Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.
6) Transcript of one of The Hanso Foundation commercials.
7) Links to Rachel Blake’s video-posts.
8) Rachel Blake interruption of the Lost Q&A panel hold in San Diego.
9) Transcription of the short documentary about The Lost Experience shown in Channel Four.
10) Transcript of Rachel Blake’s 11th video (aka Sri Lanka video).
11) ABC Group Press Release (20 September 2006).
12) Transcript of Rachel’s Blake Final Video (aka Norway Video).
13) The LOST Experience, according to the advertising agency Hi-Res!
14) Content of Lost Official Website.
15) List of some Lost fan websites, blogs, and online communities
1)
ABC Press Release (12 May 2005)
Title: ABC Television and Creation Entertainment bring the official "Lost" fan club and special
events to cities around the world
Author: Disney ABC Group
Source: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/
Published: 12 May 2005
Available at: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20050512abc01
Referenced as: (Disney ABC Group, 2005)
ABC Television and Creation Entertainment bring the official "Lost" fan club
and special events to cities around the world [12 May, 2005]
ABC Television and Creation Entertainment will be developing the official "Lost" fan club, with
special events that will take place in cities around the world for the hit ABC television series from
Touchstone Television.
202
The fan club is due to launch during the summer months, preceded by a roll-out of licensed
merchandise to include apparel, photographs, glassware and other collectibles offered at
www.lostfanclub.com .
The first official "Lost" fan convention will take place June 11 and 12 at the Hilton Hotel in
Burbank, California. Actors and producers from the series will be on hand to speak to attendees,
who are affectionately known as "Losties." The convention tour plans five additional stops in the
next year.
"'Lost' has a tremendous fan following, and it is time we gave back to the fans. Creation
Entertainment is an innovator in answering the needs of fans, and they are the perfect partner," said
Bruce Gersh, senior vice president, Business Development for ABC Entertainment.
Creation Entertainment's vice president of Licensing, Erin Ferries, said: "Over the past 34 years, our
company has been deeply involved in virtually every genre franchise property. 'Lost' executive
producers, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof and their team have created intriguing characters and
storylines that have quickly developed a huge following. We're proud to be associated with 'Lost,'
and look forward to developing innovative products and events for fans of the series."
Established in 1971, Creation Entertainment continues a 34-year tradition of producing the world's
leading conventions for fans of genre television and films. Creation has organized over 2,300 events
in major cities throughout the globe. An early innovator of marketing and merchandising to the fan
market, Creation manufactures studio licensed apparel, glassware and collectibles.
"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge
Garcia as Hurley, Maggie Grace as Shannon, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Malcolm David Kelley as
Walt, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Dominic Monaghan as
Charlie, Terry O'Quinn as Locke, Harold Perrineau as Michael and Ian Somerhalder as Boone.
J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Bryan Burk, Carlton Cuse and Jack Bender serve as executive
producers. "Lost," which is filmed entirely on location in Hawaii, is from Touchstone Television.
The series airs on the ABC Television Network Wednesdays from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET.
203
2) Transcript from an official ABC podcast (28 March 2006).
Document: Audio file
Title: Lost Official Podcast
Author: ABC Entertainment
Source: ABC’s Lost show official website
Published: 28 March 2006
Available at: http://abc.go.com/shows/lost; also on Lostpedia
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Official_Lost_Podcast
Description: Transcription of a fragment of the podcast. The present transcript reproduces a
conversation between Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, Executive Producers of Lost.
Fragment: Transcription of the fragment 00:23:20 to 00:24:45
Referenced as: (ABC Entertainment, 2006)
Transcription of a fragment of the podcast:
Paragraph
number
“Carlton Cuse:...The Hanso Foundation website is down for remodelling and when
1
2
3
4
5
6
it comes back it’s going to be awesome. In fact, we’re guys going to let you know a
secret. We’re involved in a project which is going to involve the Internet, it´s going
to start in May...
Damon Lindelof: ...In May. But you’re gonna have to watch the show...hmm...and
not just the show, but what happens in between the show.
Carlton Cuse:...between the acts of the show....
Damon Lindelof:...so watch it very carefully in order to begin the sort of the path on
this, what we’re calling an experience
Carlton Cuse: Yeah, and this Internet experience will be actually launched during
one of the shows in May, and it’ll be a path that will lead to a lot of information
about the show that we aren’t going to get you in the show, but it’s sort of an answer
very..
Damon Lindelof: it’s not behind the scenes stuff either... it’s kind of cool
204
storytelling.
Carlton Cuse: Yeah, which hopefully it’s gonna, in some degree, satisfy the desire
7
8
for new material on Lost during the summer. I mean, you know, during that period of
time, when the show is down before we start the next season we’re actually going to
be telling some Lost stories.
Damon Lindelof: And since you are, you know, listening to this podcast and taking
your time for listening to all this insanity and stupid jokes, we’ll let you know that
we’re doing this, but once it starts we’re going to completely deny having any
involvement with it whatsoever.”
3)
ABC Group Press Release (25 April 2006)
Title: ABC Television Network, United Kingdom's Channel 4 and Australia's Seven Network to
launch global interactive "Lost Experience"
Source: Disney ABC Group Press Releases
Published: 25 April 2006
Available at: http://www.disneyabctv.com/web/NewsRelease/DispDNR.aspx?id=042506_01
Referenced as: (Disney ABC Group, 2006a)
ABC Television Network, United Kingdom's Channel 4 and Australia's Seven
Network to launch global interactive "Lost Experience" [24 April, 2006]
In a Unique Marketing Initiative, People Around the Globe Must Unite to Solve a Great Mystery, Based on
the International Hit TV Show "Lost"
ABC, Channel 4 Television in the UK and Australia's Seven Network today announced the "Lost
Experience," a revolutionary interactive marketing endeavor based on the international hit
television series, "Lost," which is designed to further enhance viewers' relationship with the
program. The "Lost Experience" incorporates over twenty broadcasters from five continents,
making it the largest global interactive challenge based on a television series.
"Cutting edge technology has vaulted us into a new era; audiences are demanding greater depth of
content and more creative ways of storytelling," said Steve McPherson, president, ABC
205
Entertainment. "The 'Lost Experience's' innovative, interactive platform connects with global
audiences by delivering both great content and superb storytelling."
As part of the unique marketing initiative, the "Lost Experience" will follow a parallel storyline not
featured in the television broadcast and is designed so that both fans of the series and those
unfamiliar with the show can participate. The experience provides insight to unlock some of the
island's secrets for those savvy enough to collect the clues, make the connections and find the
answers. Clues will first appear during broadcasts on May 2nd in the UK, May 3rd in the U.S. and
May 4th in Australia. Although the "Lost Experience" is primarily internet-based, participants
should not assume that clues will be limited to the online world. Any and every platform has the
potential to contain hidden secrets of the mystery. Given the different broadcast windows around
the world, this challenge is specifically designed in a manner that is not dependent on information
specific to either Season One or Season Two, allowing for the participation of those who have not
yet seen either season of "Lost."
"The 'Lost Experience' gives the mystery, intrigue, twist and turns that 'Lost' provides as a television
series," said Mike Benson, senior vice president, Marketing, ABC Entertainment. "With 'Lost' being
the global phenomenon that it is, our partnership with the United Kingdom's Channel 4 and
Australia's Seven Network adds worldwide challenges for participants that require ingenuity and
tenacity on their part. It's like a giant, mysterious jigsaw puzzle that will come to life for all the
world to solve, whether you are a fan of the TV series, or not."
Tracy Blacher, head of New Media Marketing at Channel 4, said: "We wanted to find a way of
allowing 'Lost' viewers to engage with Season Two in a genuinely innovative and creative way.
We're delighted to be working with ABC and Australia's Seven Network to develop a truly
groundbreaking experience that reflects the international nature of 'Lost's' huge fan base."
"We are very proud to be a part of this innovative global campaign for 'Lost,'" said Tim Worner,
director of Programming and Production for Channel Seven. "This is a real treat for 'Lost' viewers
in Australia - this additional form of storytelling is part of the future of great TV drama and we are
thrilled to be onboard. Seven aims to challenge convention in thinking about the future, and this
additional experience for 'Lost' viewers is right in line with how we feel -- it's exciting to be part of
a team that is breaking new ground."
About "Lost"
After Oceanic Air flight 815 tore apart in mid-air and crashed on a seemingly deserted Pacific
island, its survivors were forced to find inner strength they never knew they had in order to survive.
The band of friends, family, enemies and strangers have become reluctant heroes who must work
together against the cruel weather and harsh terrain if they want to stay alive. Danger and mystery
206
loom behind every corner on the island, and those they thought could be trusted may turn against
them. Even heroes have secrets.
"Lost" stars Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Mr. Eko, Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Emilie de
RavinCaire, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae
Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Dominic Monaghan as Charlie, Terry
O'Quinn as Locke, Harold Perrineau as Michael, Michelle Rodriguez as Ana Lucia and Cynthia
Watros as Libby.
"Lost" was created by Jeffrey Lieber and J.J. Abrams &amon Lindelof. Abrams, Lindelof, Bryan
Burk, Jack Bender and Carlton Cuse serve as executive producers. "Lost," which is filmed entirely
on location in Hawaii, is from Touchstone Television.
"Lost" is the fastest-selling TV series in Buena Vista International Television's (BVITV) history,
having been licensed in over 210 territories worldwide. Across countries such as Australia, France,
Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Singapore, Sweden, the UK and
Russia, "Lost" has consistently been No. 1 in its timeslot. In the UK, "Lost" delivered Channel 4's
biggest-ever audience for a U.S. series launch, and on Seven Australia it was consistently one of the
top two series on the network and held the second-biggest premiere in Australia's television history.
The series has been a Top 3 U.S. series on free TV channels in every international territory it has
aired.
About ABC
ABC Entertainment offers quality, award-winning programming that includes many of the most
widely viewed series, specials and movies. Primetime Entertainment on ABC crosses various
programming genres with hit series like "Desperate Housewives," "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy,"
Extreme Home Makeover: Home Edition," "Boston Legal," "According to Jim," "George Lopez,"
"Freddie," "Dancing with the Stars," "America's Funniest Home Videos," "Super Nanny" and "Wife
Swap." In Late-Night, "Jimmy Kimmel Live" celebrated its third anniversary in January 2006. ABC
Entertainment is part of the ABC Television Network and is managed by Disney-ABC Television
Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company.
About Channel Four Television
The Channel Four Television Corporation is a publicly-owned, not-for-profit broadcaster operating
in the UK. Its main public service channel, Channel 4, is a free-to-air service funded entirely by
advertising and sponsorship. Unlike the BBC, we do not receive license fee funds. Channel 4 also
operates a number of other services, including the free-to-air digital TV channels E4 and More4, the
subscription service FilmFour (which will be relaunched as a free-to-air channel in summer 2006),
207
and an ever-growing range of online activities at channel4.com, including the broadband service
FourDocs. The FilmFour production division produces and co-produces feature films for the UK
and global markets.
About Seven Network Limited
Seven is recognized as one of Australia's leading media companies. Our television programming
reaches more than nine in ten Australians every week - with such hit local productions as "Dancing
with the Stars" and drama series "Home and Away" and "All Saints," as well as blockbuster U.S.
series "Lost," "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Commander In Chief." Our
magazines business publishes one in four magazines read by Australians. We publish two of the
three most widely-read magazines in Australia. Seven is recognized as the leader in news and public
affairs, Australian-produced drama and sports programming - our reputation being built on a
commitment to produce and deliver programming relevant to Australians. Seven's planning for the
future is built on the knowledge that television will continue to dominate communications - as the
gateway for audiences through "traditional" television programming and the integration of internet
and other online and broadband viewing options through Seven's new partnership with Yahoo! Inc
to create Yahoo!7 in Australia.
4)
ABC Group Press Release (15 July 2006)
Title: 4 8 15 16 23 42 Global interactive phenomenon, Lost Experience, to reveal meaning behind
mysterious numbers on international hit TV show "Lost"
Published: 15 July 2006
Available at: http://www.disneyabctv.com/web/NewsRelease/DispDNR.aspx?id=072506_12
Referenced as: (Disney ABC Group, 2006b)
4 8 15 16 23 42 Global interactive phenomenon, Lost Experience, to reveal
meaning behind mysterious numbers on international hit TV show "Lost" [15
July, 2006]
Multiple Clues on Several Continents Needed to Solve the Puzzle
208
As promised, the alternate reality game Lost Experience continues to divulge answers related to
mysteries on "Lost." Currently in phase three of five of the interactive challenge, the meaning
behind the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42, which play a significant role on the television series, will be
revealed.
"The reward we've always promised from the Lost Experience is information, which is currency to
anyone who is a fan of the show or a participant in this game," said Mike Benson, senior vice
president of Marketing for ABC Entertainment. "This additional form of storytelling allows us to
engage current and new fans in a genuinely innovative way while delivering the same extraordinary
content that 'Lost' provides as a television series."
So far, the Lost Experience has unveiled information regarding the Black Rock, in addition to
significance in the title of the DHARMA Initiative. The Lost Experience will continue to the
premiere of Season Three, revealing secrets behind the mysterious Alvar Hanso and the Hanso
Foundation.
It is not too late to join in on the Lost Experience. Those wishing to participate can do so by
viewing a synopsis at http://blogs.abc.com/inside_the_experience/ which allows new participants
the chance to enter into the Experience with ease.
About the Lost Experience
The Lost Experience follows a parallel storyline not featured in the television broadcast and is
designed so that both fans of the series and those unfamiliar with the show can participate. The
Experience provides insight to unlock some of the island's secrets for those savvy enough to collect
the clues, make the connections and find the answers. Clues first appeared May 2 in the UK, May 3
in the U.S., and May 4 in Australia. Although the Lost Experience is internet-based, participants
should not assume that clues and story content will be limited to the online world. Any and every
platform has the potential to contain hidden secrets. Given the different broadcast windows around
the world, this challenge is designed in a manner that is not dependent on information specific to
either Season One or Season Two, allowing those who have not yet seen either season of "Lost" to
participate.
About "Lost"
After Oceanic Air flight 815 tore apart in mid-air and crashed on a seemingly deserted Pacific
island, its survivors were forced to find inner strength they never knew they had in order to survive.
The band of friends, family, enemies and strangers have become reluctant heroes who must work
together against the cruel weather and harsh terrain if they want to stay alive. Danger and mystery
209
loom behind every corner on the island, and those they thought could be trusted may turn against
them. Even heroes have secrets.
"Lost" stars Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Mr. Eko, Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Emilie de Ravin
as Claire, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim
as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Dominic Monaghan as Charlie, Terry O'Quinn
as Locke, Harold Perrineau as Michael, Michelle Rodriguez as Ana Lucia and Cynthia Watros as
Libby.
"Lost" was created by Jeffrey Lieber and J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof. Abrams, Lindelof, Bryan
Burk, Jack Bender and Carlton Cuse serve as executive producers. "Lost," which is filmed entirely
on location in Hawaii, is from Touchstone Television.
About ABC
ABC Entertainment offers quality, award-winning programming that includes many of the most
widely viewed series, specials and movies. Primetime Entertainment on ABC crosses various
programming genres with hit series like "Desperate Housewives," "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy,"
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Boston Legal," "According to Jim," "George Lopez,"
"Dancing with the Stars," "America's Funniest Home Videos," "Supernanny," and "Wife Swap." In
Late-Night, "Jimmy Kimmel Live" celebrated its third anniversary in January, 2006. C
Entertainment is part of the ABC Television Network and is managed by Disney-ABC Television
Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company.
5)
Interview with Lost Executive produces Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.
Document: Online article
Title: BuddyTV Interviews LOST's Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse - and gets Answers!
Author: BuddyTV
Source: BuddyTV website
Published: 07 March 2007
Available at: http://www.buddytv.com/articles/lost/buddytv-interviews-losts-damon-4766.aspx
Referenced as: (BuddyTV, 2007)
BuddyTV Interviews LOST's Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse - and gets
Answers! [7 May, 2007]
It has captured imaginations, and frustrated viewers for three seasons now, it is ABC's monolithic
smash hit LOST. Lately, the show has been besieged with complaints that there are no answers, so
210
we sent our intrepid LOST guru Jon "DocArzt" Lachonis in search of some of the details LOST
fans crave. He sat down with LOST executive producers and writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton
Cuse to get some insight on the island's biggest mysteries. Will there be another LOST Experience?
Will Marvin Candle ever escape the confines of gritty 16mm orientation films? Are there twins
among the others? What does the forthcoming game from UbiSoft hold in store for fans? When
will season four premiere? And, what is up with that mysterious cable? The answers are here.
BuddyTV: Is there enough information given on the show that someone could put together a
fact-based theory that more or less explains what’s going on, on the island?
Carlton Cuse: I don’t think so, I mean, the story is not yet complete. I don’t think there’s enough
that we’ve put out there that would allow someone to draw a conclusive theory about the island and
the show.
Damon Lindelof: I think that there are bits and pieces that someone could put together. Recently
Carlton and I put out to the Yahoo community all over the world, what do you
think the monster is? And some people came alarmingly close to what its
origins were, how it functions, what its purpose is, but they weren’t able to go
the next level as Carlton says, deeper into saying, “That’s what it is but what
does that mean in the grander scheme of what the island is.” It doesn’t mean
that someone couldn’t accidentally back into it and anticipate something that
they haven’t seen yet. But sort of the real hardcore intel about the island is
going to start to reveal itself towards the end of the season as we learn more
about the others.
BuddyTV: One thing that’s a bit of controversy in the fan community is whether or not any
of the information from The Lost Experience game is actually a factor in the universe of the
show. Is that something you could clear up for us?
Carlton Cuse: I think that for us, yeah, I mean, all of Alvar Hanso and his relationship with
funding the Dharma Initiative is part of the mythology. The details of the Hanso Foundation’s
demise…it’s tangential to the show but it’s not unrelated to the show. We sort of felt like the
Internet Experience was a way for us to get out mythologies that we would never get to I wain the
show. I mean, because this is mythology that doesn’t have an effect on the character’s lives or
existence on the island. We created it for purposes of understanding the world of the show but it
211
was something that was always going to be sort of below the water, sort of the iceberg metaphor,
and the Internet Experience sort of gave us a chance to reveal it.
Damon Lindelof: I would say in terms of all the… background that we did, in terms of the
Valenzetti equation and explaining the formation of the Hanso Foundation and doing the other
films…we’d consider that stuff cannon to the show. Where there’d have to be wiggle room is the
Rachel Blake story where she’s in the real world, in the outside world as we define it, the show Lost
might be defined in an entirely different outside world so we can’t vouch for the overall fit ability
and veracity of everything that Rachel was doing. But we can say that all the factoids that she was
uncovering were vetted, in fact many of them were written by us personally so they are cannon.
BuddyTV: Is there going to be another Lost Experience at some point? Will those characters
be revisited?
Carlton Cuse: I don’t think those characters would be revisited. As to whether there’s going to be
another Lost Experience, there’s been discussions about it and I think it would only happen if we
found another story that again, felt like it was worth telling but that we weren’t going to get around
to telling it on the mother ship.
BuddyTV: Going way back, and maybe I’m just imagining this but at the end of Season 1,
there was a pair of twins on Mr. Friendly’s pleasure yacht and I swear that somebody said
that the twins were going to become important to the storyline at a future date. Is that still
something that’s hanging around in the background somewhere?
Damon Lindelof: I remember the twins because we hired the twin stuntmen to be guys on the boat
but I don’t ever recall having said, although it’s highly possible, sometimes we get asked questions
at Comicon for example about like nano clouds and stuff like that and things that we say in jest
actually just come back and slap us later from the press in terms of saying, “You said that twins
would be of critical importance to later story telling.” It sounds like something we might say talking
out of the side of our mouths but we can tell you, sitting here now that twins have nothing to do
whatsoever with the mythology of the show.
BuddyTV: Also going back a bit, I know at one point during Season 2, Darren Aronofsky
approached you guys about directing an episode. Is that something that still might come
about?
212
Carlton Cuse: No, you know basically it turned out that Darren still had work to do on his movie
and Rachel Weisz was having their child and he had too many outside commitments and really we
haven’t revisited it since then so there’s no plans for Darren to come and direct on the show.
BuddyTV: So far there’s been three David’s in the show: Hurley’s Dad, Libby’s husband and
Hurley’s imaginary friend. Is there anything to that or do you guys just like the name David?
Damon Lindelof: We like certain biblical names and David is one of them. David happened to be
my father’s name, maybe that’s sort of subconsciously rattling around in there.
Carlton Cuse: The connection between the imaginary Dave and Dave his father was completely
intentional, I mean we wanted basically Hurley to imagine a friend and have that be wrapped up in
his unresolved relationship with his Dad, so that’s why his imaginary friend is named Dave.
Damon Lindelof: As to Libby’s ex, that’s an entirely different David we may or may not meet in
the future.
6)
Transcript of The Hanso Foundation commercials
Document: TV commercials
Information: The Hanso Foundation commercials, created for The Lost Experience campaign
launched by ABC.
Author: ABC and HiRes!
Source: ABC channel (US) and Channel 4 (UK)
Aired: May 2006
Available on: YouTube
Description: Transcription of the whole commercials.
(1) Aired in ABC channel, May 20062
2
Available on URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AIr5NhCON8
213
Voiceover: “Since the dawn of time, man has been curious, imaging all that is possible.The
Hanso Foundation, reaching out to a better tomorrow.
Discover the experience for yourself; call 1 877 HANSORG”
214
Discover the experience for yourself; go to www.letyourcompassguideyou.com
1 877 HANSORG”
Discover the experience for yourself; go to hansocareers.com”
(4) Aired in Channel 4 (UK), May 20065
Voiceover: “Since the dawn of time, man has been curious, imaging all that is possible. The
Discover the experience for yourself; call 0800 66 66 40W”
3
Available on URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkIomChcEIg&feature=related
Available on URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAQOS2fgxE&feature=PlayList&p=92653FB701E79B96&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=28
5
Available on URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5RQplPKl-Y&feature=related
4
215
7)
Links to Rachel Blake’s video-posts.
Document: Video
Description: Videos posted by fictional character Rachel Blake on her blogs, created for The Lost
Experience campaign launched by ABC.
Author: ABC Entertaiment and HiRes!
Source: stophanso.rachelblake.com and rachelblake.com
Published: From June to September 2006
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_nMiMB2Gao&feature=player_embedded#at=30
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTm1ZuUEwdw&feature=player_embedded
Video 3:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk8oD5ic9JQ&feature=player_embedded
Video 4:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbDnJHGpVCk
Video 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE5BLvbtVdw&feature=PlayList&p=DDE6BC448791127A&p
laynext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4
Video 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aXE0tZZRSg&feature=player_embedded
Video 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7kxYDFPytk&feature=player_embedded
Video 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qob9AUinx3w&feature=player_embedded
Video 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-eC99Q9-B0&feature=player_embedded
Video 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77h6n1lJC1E&feature=player_embedded
Video 11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PPCCcXarkc&feature=player_embedded
Video 12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjFsMfdzbBs&feature=player_embedded
216
8)
Rachel Blake interruption of Lost Q&A panel hold in San Diego
Document: Video
Information: Lost Q&A panel hold at Comic-Con, in San Diego. San Diego Comic-Con
International is one of the largest convections in the world about comic and popular arts. Fictional
character Rachel Blake interrupted the conference, as part of The Lost Experience campaign
launched by ABC.
Author: ABC Entertaiment
Source: Comic-Con’06 convection in San Diego
Published: July 2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wL9VqYf9UE&feature=related
Description: Transcription of the fragment from 00:02:00 to 00:03:21
Transcription of the fragment from 00:02:00 to 00:03:21:
Paragraph
number
Rachel Blake: “You are protecting a very real, very dangerous organisation.”
1
Actor #1: “Look, it’s not real. It’s a television show.”
2
Rachel Blake: “It is real. The Hanso Foundation is real, The Dharma Initiative is
3
real, Dr. Mittelwerk is real and what he’s doing right now...he’s doing terrible things.
That’s real. [...] (continues)...and my name is Rachel Blake, and I am real! And if
you want the truth you’ll go to hansoexposed.com
Rachel Blake: (pointing at each of the actors) You have blood in your hands!, You
4
have blood in your hands! You have blood in your hands!”
(Rachel is escorted out)
5
217
9) Transcription of the short documentary about The Lost Experience shown in Channel
Four
Document: Video documental
Name: The Los Experience
Description: Transcription of the entire documentary (4 min. 24 sec.)
Author: Channel 4 (UK)
Source: Channel 4 (UK)
Aired on: 2007
Available on: YouTube and the advertising agency Hi-Res! website
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6phwqrqlGwE&feature=player_embedded
http://www.hi-res.net/awards/thelostexperience/
Referenced as: (Channel 4, 2007)
Paragraph
number
Tracy Blacher (Head of Marketing New Media, Channel 4): “Rachel was an
1
amazing success, in so many ways beyond the world extremes. To create a
phenomenon that people in different continents are talking about simultaneously...”
Steve Forde (New Media Marketing Manager, Channel 4): “...There was hundreds of
2
podcasts put together. There was thousand and thousand of blogs...It just kind of
spiralled into this massive snowball of excitement.”
Voiceover: “During 2006, Channel 4 and the online design agency Hi-Res! worked
3
with the creators of the hit TV programme Lost to develop an extensive alternate
reality game called The Lost Experience. Essentially, The Lost Experience supplied
fans with the background on The Dharma Initiative, the mysterious project being
carried out on the island in the main show. This back story revolves around the
company behind The Dharma Initiative, known as The Hanso Foundation. Young
woman by the name of Rachel Blake is determined to uncover the whereabouts of the
founder, Alvar Hanso, and in doing so reveals the truth about the supposedly
altruistic Hanso Foundation.
At its peak there were around 50,000 UK players actively engaged in the experience.
4
And searching for The Lost Experience on Google delivered over 6 million search
218
results.”
Unique callers to the initial phone line 50,000
5
Over 50,000 unique players
More than 7 terabytes of traffic per month
Phase 1: From May to June 2006
6
Voiceover: “Rachel Blake using the pseudonym Persephone hacked into The Hanso
Foundation website over a period of six weeks, revealing truths about projects and
the board of directors.”
Tracy Blacher (Head of Marketing New Media, Channel 4): “I was blowing away
7
on a daily basis by just how passionate were about what was being created, and about
how complex the mystery solving became. So there were days where I’d come in
and there were hundreds of blogs reporting on clues and being updated with
information, gathering together a cold calling for people with different skills sets,
from Physics degrees to Maths...all sorts of different skills all coming together to
solve different clues.”
Phase 2: From June to July 2006
8
Voiceover: “Once that The Hanso Foundation realised that the site was being
hacked, they shut it down. However, Rachel left a hidden URL in the site sourcecode. On the face of it this site looked like an innocent travel blog. However, once a
password had been entered, the site changed to reveal a daily video diary on the
continuing investigation.”
Phase 3: From July to August 2006
9
Voiceover: “Rachel shot a piece of video which she split into 60 one-minute
fragments. Each of these was given a unique code which could be used to unlock the
individual video-fragments on hansoexpose.com. In order to make the code
recognisable to the fans we created hieroglyphics which were hidden across the
world and on underflying locations.”
219
Phase 4: August to September 2006
10
Voiceover: “The Apollo Chocolate Bar which features in Lost was manufactured
specifically for the experience. Each of these specially created bars had an URL
moulded into it: whereisalvar.com. Founders of the bars where then able to upload a
picture of themselves with their bars to the website.”
Phase 5: From September to October 2006
11
Voiceover: “The final phase was an Internet radio broadcast by DJ Dan, a wellknown US shock jock, who’s been following the investigation. During a live phony
show he took a call from Rachel Blake where she revealed that she’d hidden the last
video-evidence on her site.”
Tracy Blacher (Head of Marketing New Media, Channel 4): “What experiences
12
like this mean is that people can still get involved in extrapolating information,
sharing their passion with peers, finding other like-minded people. And that’s
something incredibly exciting that we’d definitely love to explore further in the
future.”
10)
Transcript of Rachel Blake’s 11th video (aka Sri Lanka video).
Document: Video
Name: Rachel Blake’s 11th video (aka Sri Lanka video).
Description: Video posted by fictional character Rachel Blake, created for The Lost Experience
campaign launched by ABC. This is the 11th video published by Rachel Blake online. The Sri
Lanka video was broken down into 60 pieces that participants in the game had to put together.
Source: hansoexposed.com
Published: September 2006
Paragraph
number
Part 1
1
[Music plays]
© 1975 The Hanso Foundation * ORIENTATION *
220
Alvar Hanso: I'm Alvar Hanso. If you are watching this film, you already know and
2
have worked with Gerald and Karen DeGroot, founders and masterminds of the
DHARMA Initiative.
By now, you also know there are many research goals for our joint venture. What
3
you may not know, is why we have assembled the DHARMA Initiative, why we
have assembled the greatest minds in the world and given them unlimited funds and
access.
As with all you've already been told, you are bound by your honour and commitment
4
to keep what you are about to hear a secret.
In a few weeks, after your induction counseling and survival training, you and your
5
colleagues will be shipped to a top secret facility...
The precise location of the facility is known only to myself, the DeGroots, and the
6
few high ranking members of my organization. Why all the security, all the secrecy?
The answer is simple: Your research is intended to do nothing less than save the
world as we know it.
In 1962, only thirteen years ago, the world came to the brink of nuclear war. The
7
United States and the Soviet Union almost fulfilled the promise of mutual assured
destruction. A promise they continue to foster through a destructive Cold War. After
the Cuban Missile Crisis, both nations decided to find a solution. The result was the
Valenzetti Equation. Commissioned under the highest secrecy, through the U.N.
Security Council, the equation is the brainchild of the Italian mathematician Enzo
Valenzetti. It predicts the exact number of years and months until humanity
extinguishes itself. Whether through nuclear fire, chemical and biological warfare,
conventional warfare, pandemic, over-population... The results are chilling, and
attention must be paid...
Valenzetti gave numerical values to the core environmental and human factors in his
8
equation: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42. Only by manipulating the environment, by finding
scientific solutions to our problems we will be able to change those core factors, and
give humanity a chance to survive. Although the equation has been buried by those
221
who commissioned it [STATIC] panic. It has always been my belief that we ignore
warnings at our own peril; and thus, the DHARMA Initiative was born.
DHARMA is an acronym for Department of Heuristics and Research on Material
9
Applications. It also stands for the one true way. [STATIC] ...and through your
research, you will help human... [STATIC].
We have constructed several stations on the island, underground laboratories with the
10
facilities you will need to do your research, with optimal expediency...all of the
support you will need, including regular medicine and food drops will be made in
perpetuity.
A radio transmitter has also been erected on the island broadcasting in a frequency
11
and encryption known only to us. The transmitter will only broadcast the core
numerical values of the Valenzetti Equation. When, through your research, you
manage to change the numerical value of any one of these factors, when you have
created through science the [inaudible] ... We will know that the one true way has
been found.
That is the work to which you have committed yourself. Change the core values of
12
the Valenzetti Equation, and you will change the course of destiny. The fate of the
human race is in your hands.
Thank you and namaste.
13
Part 2[The end of Part 1 is displayed on a television monitor next to a man in a white
14
labcoat who is standing in front of a small audience.]
Thomas Mittelwerk: We all know what happened - the DHARMA Initiative failed
15
and in spite of every effort of the Foundation, we are gripped in the tyranny of those
six numbers.
We have tried to change those values by manipulating the environment in many,
16
many ways. We have done our level best, and yet this inscrutable equation keeps
bringing us back to the numbers. So now, we have to take radical action and I just
222
want to tell all of you, that I trust you to do what is best.
The villages of Fallam and Vetul-Milani have allowed us to test our vaccine on them.
17
They think they are infected by a virus carried by local macaques and they believe
we are bringing them the cure, so when you go in, you have to keep up the story.
You know it by heart, don't waver. When the deaths begin you must comfort
everyone with compassion and empathy then the bodies of the dead must be brought
to the station immediately for full genetic work-up. We must make absolute certain
we are hitting precise genetic targets we have engineered into the virus.
The optimal mortality rate is 30 percent. Our operatives at the Vik Institute have
18
verified this figure. If more or less people succumb, we have failed. We need not take
any more lives than is absolutely necessary.
Yes?
19
Scientist #1: (Raises hand) But Tom, these are people, innocent human beings, and
20
we're justMittelwerk: If you knew, with mathematical certainty, that you could end all
21
famine, war, and poverty, what would you do? Exactly, you'd find the best way to get
it done - precisely, surgically, without allowing for any more suffering than is
absolutely necessary. (Sigh)
Mittelwerk: If you knew, with mathematical certainty, that you could end all
22
famine, war, and poverty, what would you do? Exactly, you'd find the best way to get
it done - precisely, surgically, without allowing for any more suffering than is
absolutely necessary. (Sigh)
It is not fair that innocents have to die so that we can perfect this virus but I promise
23
you, someone is going to hell...
Is there something... reflecting... in the back?
Rachel Blake: Oh God!
24
223
Mittelwerk: Somebody grab her! Hey! Hey! Get her!
25
(incomprehensible shouting)
Rachel Blake: No! Get off me! Get off! No!
26
Scientist #2: We got her.
27
Rachel Blake: Get off me! No! It's....
28
11)
ABC Group Press Release (20 September 2006)
Document: Press Release
Title: The Lost Experience comes to a close September 24
Published: 20 September 2006
Available at: http://lost.beloblog.com/archives/2006/09/the_grinding_ha.html
Referenced as: (Disney ABC Group, 2006c)
The Lost Experience comes to a close September 24 [20 September, 2006]
Live Broadcast Features Special In-Studio Guest Sunday, September 24, 8:00 p.m., PT
The multiplatform interactive phenomenon "The Lost Experience" will come to a climactic close on
SEPTEMBER 24 (8:00 p.m., PT, 5:00 p.m., ET), with a live worldwide radio internet broadcast
hosted by the renegade DJ Dan. The broadcast will also feature a special in-studio guest and
announce a link for the final video clue revealing the truth behind the actions of the Hanso
Foundation. DJ Dan's previous broadcast gave clues leading to the Sri Lanka video, which unveiled
the meaning behind the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42. To listen to the broadcast, go to www.abc.com.
About "The Lost Experience"
"The Lost Experience" is a revolutionary interactive marketing endeavor based on the international
hit television series, "Lost," designed to further enhance viewers' relationship with the program.
"The Lost Experience" incorporates over twenty broadcasters from five continents, making it the
largest global interactive challenge based on a television series. This experience follows a parallel
storyline not featured in the television broadcast, and the challenge is specifically designed in a
manner that is not dependent on information specific to either Season One or Season Two, allowing
224
for the participation of those who have not yet seen either season of "Lost". "The Lost Experience"
provides insight to unlock some of the island's secrets for those savvy enough to collect the clues,
make the connections and find the answers.
About "Lost"
After Oceanic Air flight 815 tore apart in mid-air and crashed on a Pacific island, its survivors were
forced to find inner strength they never knew they had in order to survive. But they discovered that
the island holds many secrets, including a mysterious smoke monster, polar bears, a strange French
woman and another group of island residents known as "The Others." The survivors have also
found signs of those who came to the island before them, including a 19th-century sailing ship, The
Black Rock, the remains of an ancient statue and bunkers belonging to the Dharma Initiative, a
group of scientific researchers.
"Lost" stars Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Mr. Eko, Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Henry Ian Cusick
as Desmond, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Henry Gale, Matthew Fox as Jack,
Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun,
Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet, Dominic Monaghan as Charlie and Terry
O'Quinn as Locke.
"Lost" was created by Jeffrey Lieber and J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof. Abrams, Lindelof, Bryan
Burk, Jack Bender, Jeff Pinkner and Carlton Cuse serve as executive producers. "Lost," which is
filmed entirely on location in Hawaii and premiered on September 22, 2004, is from Touchstone
Television.
12)
Transcript of Rachel’s Blake Final Video (aka Norway Video)
Document: Video
Name: Rachel’s Blake Final Video (aka Norway Video)
Description: Video posted by fictional character Rachel Blake, created for The Lost Experience
campaign launched by ABC. This is the 12th video published by Rachel Blake online.
Source: hansoexposed.com
Published: September 2006
Paragraph
number
(Outside a house, Rachel knocks. Titles show up that she is in Narvik, Norway. A
1
225
man answers the door, letting her in. Inside, opera music plays and we see another
man stood in the living room. The man is Alvar Hanso)
Alvar Hanso: Leave us.
2
(The man goes upstairs, as Alvar motions Rachel to sit)
Alvar Hanso: (Sighs) Rachel Blake.
3
Rachel Blake: You recognise me?
4
Alvar Hanso: How did you get past security?
5
Rachel Blake: I have contacts in your foundation. The nurse who comes in regularly
6
to take your blood was called away on a family emergency. I’m her replacement.
Alvar Hanso: (Chuckles) Clever. So, did you come to draw blood?
7
Rachel Blake: How can you joke, after everything you’ve done?
8
Alvar Hanso: You brought in a recording device.
9
Rachel Blake: No. This is between you and me.
10
Alvar Hanso: I can hear it Rachel, it's in your bag. You must have thought you could
11
walk into my home, armed with nothing but the truth, and extract a confession from
me.
Rachel Blake: Something like that.
12
Alvar Hanso: (Chuckles again) I find your idealism touching. And, since it's the
13
truth you came for, I suppose that is what I should give you. On tape.
(Rachel moves the camera round to face Alvar, as he sits up in his chair quickly)
Alvar Hanso: The men you see here, work for the Foundation, they do not work for
14
me. Their job is to keep me inside. To keep me from talking to anyone of
importance. I’m a prisoner…
226
Rachel: No! You are not dodging the blame.
15
Alvar Hanso: No. I’m not. I am to blame. For training Thomas Werner Mittelwerk.
16
For grooming him to be my successor. For giving him all the tools he needed to do
the awful things he has. He cannot kill me, but he can keep me locked up while he
kills millions of what…
(Rumbling from outside the room spooks both Blake and Hanso, and Rachel has to
momentarily cover the camera)
Alvar Hanso:..he is the one who has done all of the things that you have exposed.
17
And much worse, all in my name. And yours.
Rachel Blake: Mine?
18
Alvar Hanso: That’s why you came. The reason why you’ve investigated the
19
Foundation. You wanted to learn more about the trust fund that paid for your
upbringing. You wondered how a single mother, could pay for an education, and all
the advantages you were given. But you, are a beautifully intelligent young woman,
and you were able to trace the funds back to the Foundation. You searched, and even
as you realized all the evil that was being done, even as you turned against
everything that the Foundation now stands for, you kept on, because you knew the
path would lead, to your father. And now I need your help, even if I don’t deserve it.
I may never leave this house alive, and it’s only a matter of time before the guards
realise who you are. So take this confession, get it to the press, to the authorities, to
anyone who will listen! Make a scandal, Rachel! You are the only one who can bring
down Mittelwerk, and set me free. Go now Rachel, finish this once and for all. Go!
Rachel Blake: So long… Dad.
20
(Rachel begins to leave as the video cuts out)
13)
The LOST Experience, according to the advertising agency Hi-Res!
Document: Online text
Title: The LOST Experience
Author: Hi-Res!
Source: Hi-Res! website
227
Published: Unknown date
Available at: http://www.hi-res.net/awards/thelostexperience/
Referenced as: (Hi-Res!, 2007)
The LOST Experience
The Lost Experience was a multi media marketing alternate reality game developed by Channel 4
to support Season Two of LOST.
The marketing campaign was designed to unite LOST fans from around the world in an alternative
reality game developed as a spin-off from the TV programme. Working closely with the writers
behind LOST, the Lost Experience revealed the ‘back-story’ of the Hanso Foundation, the
shadowy organisation behind the fictitious Dharma Initiative which sits at the heart of the TV
series. A detailed combination of TV adverts, fake websites, call-centres, blogs, chocolate bars,
video and flash mobs were co-ordinated to enable users to follow the story of Rachel Blake, an exemployee of the Hanso Foundation trying to uncover the truth behind the company’s sinister
activities. In the UK alone over 30,000 unique users regularly interacted with the alternate reality
game.
Principal In-Game Websites
Due to the nature of the game, clues and hacks were released over the 6 months the game ran.
While the websites below will give you an idea of the breadth of the experience, it is very difficult
to re-create the excitement that came out of the constant reveal of new details, the launch of new
sites, fragments of the story, etc.
Please refer to the video above for a (very brief) overview of the experience...
The Hanso Foundation
www.rachelblake.com
stophanso.rachelblake.com
Apollo Candy
HansoExposed
DJ Dan
whereisalvar.com
The Lost Experience highlights the fine line between marketing and content in a hugely ambitious
way, adding a sense of realism to a fictional show. It was about breaking the rules and doing
something groundbreaking and new, finding ever more creative ways of storytelling and rewarding
the most loyal fans. Ultimately it was about the wisdom of crowds, a truly global network of fans
coming together to unfold a story, to tell it to others and to become an integral part of the story
itself. The writers of LOST are amongst the best storytellers around today – this harnesses their
skills in a fluid and non-traditional way, allowing a more collaborative reveal of plot and characters
and harnessing the speculative nature of the show.
228
Launched in May 2006 there were five key stages to the Experience:
1. A specially filmed advert for The Hanso Foundation was broadcast on Channel 4 during the
first episode of Season Two on May 2nd 2006 (and subsequently on ABC in the US). The
advert led players (via a call centre) to the Hanso Foundation website
(www.thehansofoundation.org) which was hacked by Rachel Blake revealing clues to
players into the sinister activities of this apparently altruistic organisation.
2. In response to the hacking www.thehansofoundation.org is quickly shut down. Source code
in the shut-down site guided users Rachel’s travel blog at www.RachelBlake.com. The
travel blog is revealed to be a video log from Rachel with further revelations about The
Hanso Foundation and its senior staff.
3. A video revealing an explosive secret about The Hanso Foundation was then coded and
hidden in 60 video fragments across the globe both online and offline. When the video
codes were entered into www.hansoexposed.com the video fragments could be viewed as a
whole. Channel 4 hid video fragments within E4 idents and hosted two ‘flash mob’ events
in London and Manchester. To compile all the video clips relied on players from around the
globe co-operating – the full sequence revealed the secret behind the famous numbers - 4 8
15 16 23 42.
4. Ten thousand Apollo bars, the chocolate bar featured in Lost Season One, were released in
selected outlets across the UK. The chocolate bars were stamped with a new url,
www.whereisalvar.com. A small number of chocolate bars contained a special code which,
when entered onto the site, provided a clue to the final stage of the game.
5. The final phase was an Internet radio broadcast by DJ Dan, a well-known US shock-jock.
During a live phone-in show he took a call from Rachel Blake who announced the final
website leading to the ultimate secret of the Lost Experience – Rachel Blake was the
daughter of Alvar Hanso, the founder of the Hanso Foundation.
14)
Content of Lost Official Website.
Author: Personal compilation Source: Lost Official Website, http://abc.go.com/shows/lost/
ABC has made the following content available on the site:
‐
Full episodes: U.S. users have online access to all the full episodes of the show on ABC
official website.
‐
Videos: ABC has made a wide variety of videos related to the Lost universe available on the
official site. In October 2009, the :
o “Moments” and “Quick cuts”: Under these subsections of the site, users can find a
number of videos displaying selected scenes of the last season of show, which were
crucial in the story.
o
“Dharma special access”: This selection of videos are presented by Damon Lindelof
and Carlton Cuse, executive producers of the show. In the videos Lindelof and Cuse
talk about a variety of topics related to the series, answer some of the questions
229
formulated by the fans, show how the offices where they work on Lost look like, and
promote the use of other sections of the website.
o “Ask Lost”: Interviews with some of the actors of the show, who reply to the
questions sent by Lost fans.
o “Dharma Mysteries”: Four videos on the fictional organisation The Dharma
Initiative, which has a key role in the story of the show. The videos, called Mysteries
of the Universe, emulate the aesthetic of a 1970s documentary which attempt to
investigate the mysterious organisation.
o “Lost at Comic-Con 2009”: Actors and creators of Lost have been attending the
annual convection Comic-Con6 since the series began. This category of videos
displays some of the interviews from the last Comic-Con event.
o “Untangled”: Lost Untangled is a new comical way of recapping the new episodes of
Lost. Each episode is around four to six minutes long and includes the use of the
official Lost action figures, comic-book style stills and clips from the episodes.
‐
Podcasts: The Official Lost Podcast is presented by Kris White and features cast interviews
and behind-the-scenes info. Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse also talk about the
latest and upcoming episodes, as well as answer fan questions.
‐
A Forum to host the discussions between the fans.
‐
Pictures: Dozens of pictures taken from each of the episodes.
‐
Miscellaneous: Character’s bios, Connections between the characters and timeline, The Lost
Book Club, and several Applications (called widgets).
15)
List of some Lost fan websites, blogs, and online communities
Author: Personal compilation
Source: The Internet
1) http://thelostexperienceclues.blogspot.com/
2) http://www.thelostexperience.com/
3) http://lost.wfaa.com/
4) http://forum.lostpedia.com/
5) http://twitter.com/LOST_on_abc
6
San Diego Comic-Con International, commonly known as Comic-Con is one of the largest convections in the world
about comic and popular arts. The convection, which takes place in San Diego (U.S.), is a four-day annual event,
normally held during the summer. Website: http://www.comic-con.org/cci/
230
6) http://lost-media.com/
7) http://www.lost.com/
8) http://www.creationent.com/lost/index.htm
9) http://www.sl-lost.com/
10)
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/lost
11)
http://www.lostaholics.com/la/?cat=59
12)
http://www.lostblog.net/
13)
http://www.thetailsection.com/
14)
http://previously-on-lost.com/
15)
http://find815.blogspot.com/
16)
http://www.losttvfans.com
17)
http://lostdiscussion.wetpaint.com/
18)
http://www.losttv-forum.com
19)
http://www.lostfan.net/
20)
http://abclost.blogspot.com/
21)
http://www.thelostfan.com/
22)
http://www.lostfic.com/
23)
http://best.lostguide.ever.com/
24)
http://www.4815162342.com
231
Appendix 5: Screenshots for section 4.2.2.
Woo bar’s profile on Facebook, Twitter, website, blog, and MySpace profile.
232
A fragment of Dell IdeaStorm’s front page. Dell implemented a bit less than 400 ideas by November, 2009. Available on URL:
http://www.ideastorm.com/
A fragment of My Starbucks idea website. Available on URL:
http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/apex/ideaList?lsi=0&category=Coffee+%26+Espresso+Drinks
233
Appendix 6: The transcript of the interview with Nikolaj Hoencke Keldorff (23
November, 2009)
The date of the interview: 23 November, 2009
Location: ASB
The length of the interview: 55 min 29s
Interviewer: Monika Garnyte
Interviewee: Nikolaj Hoencke Keldorff
Referenced as: (Keldorff, interview, November 23, 2009)
Paragraph
number
Monika Garnyte (MG): At first, I will start with a question: can you introduce
1
2
3
4
5
6
yourself? What are you doing at ASB?
Nikolaj Keldorff (NK): That is a tough one. I have only been working here for 11
months, so it has not been quite a year yet. I was employed 1st of December, last
year. My job is to work as a project manager in new media and development of webservices. I have quite a broad range of work to do here. It is spanning from
development of our web television channel (ASB CAST), and development of new
formats and channels in television. I also work with our newsletters, development of
our corporate website asb.dk, and, furthermore, with all these new media things.
MG: But you are working with it from IT perspective, right?
Yes. I work with it from IT perspective, but I have a Master’s degree in Corporate
Communication. So my role is to be the missing link between Communication
department7 and the Media department, web development8, and the IT department.
MG: The first question for the interview would be: Social media has been a very
trendy topic lately and ASB is, of course, influenced by it. Why do you think social
media has become so important?
NK: That is a tough question because there are some important drivers for the
7
8
Communication and Development department.
ASB Media. 234
medium to be important. At first, you have to have some critical mass, and you have
to have some degree of culture that supports advertising for your covered identity to
be able to be present at the medium. So that is quite logical that when we saw the rise
of Facebook or LinkedIn – and now we have Twitter as the last one added to the
group. They are very user driven. Thereby, there is no question that there is critical
mass present at these mediums. So it’s quite important that you at least consider
whether you want to be present or you don’t want to be present there. These are the
places where the users go to everyday. If they go there every day, they would want to
know whether you have the intention of being there or not being there, and why, or
why not. So we have to clarify to our users why or why not we are present at their
hubs of interest. So, I think, it is quite logical that you have to consider whether you
want to be there or not.
With the rise of social media, it has become less and less expensive to communicate
7
8
9
and interact with your peers and your stakeholders. However, it’s not so much about
whether it’s expensive or not to advertise or to communicate – at least to the degree
of expenses towards having advertising agencies that work out campaigns for you, or
you have expenses for distributing your campaigns. It is all quite free now when we
went digital. It’s not so much a question about the expenses in “that department”, as
it was with traditional media. But now it is a question about tutoring or getting to
know these new tools of communication in the whole organization and consider how
to allocate time.
MG: What kind of challenges the social media platform brigs to the school? How the
school deals with that?
NK: There are many challenges because it is a whole new way of communication.
You know Facebook, you are, probably, on Facebook every day. As we, as product
[development] people, Facebook, for instance, is driven by the culture of personal
involvement. You have disconnected conversation with all of your friends and
beloved ones. The rule of the corporate presence on these medias is up for a debate.
And that debate is, first of all, between the professional communicators and
organizations: we are trying to find a view and understand these new media
[channels]. And most importantly, it is the debate between the organizations and the
users of these social media websites. Facebook is owned by the users, so you have to
acknowledge and respect the users and their point of view on your presence on that
235
media.
MG: And it changes the whole communication process, right?..
NK: Yes. Social media and the Internet give power to the user. Suddenly, one user
10 11 can give you a great deal of pain towards that presence. So you have to respect that
and that is the new way of thinking.
MG: Does ASB have an official strategy for social media?
NK: We are in the middle of creating one and I am trying to create a draft for our
12 13 social media strategy, which will be an appendix to our communication strategy. I
have just received a draft for our communication strategy, so right now we are just
experimenting with social media.
You, of course, know ASB CAST, which is our web-TV platform. With ASB CAST
14 we have Twitter account and we have Facebook page. And we are just about to
restart on these. It’s not put down on paper yet, but we have a strategy for using
Twitter and Facebook for ASB CAST to update stakeholders every time we put up a
new video.
So we are using it, we trying to experiment with it, collecting valuable information
15 on how people want us to be present on different media. But it’s a new world. It’s a
difficult world to grasp.
MG: As you say, you are currently working with social media action plan for ASB.
16 In general, what has encouraged ASB to get involved with social media?
I think we have to separate two things. One thing is that I am in the middle of
17 creating the draft of our social media strategy. And that is a strategy for being present
at social media hubs. The other thing is that we are creating the social media action
plan, which is a plan of action, a plan of how we want to interact and be present at
the media. And most importantly, how we react and who reacts, if we receive bad
press or some kind of rumours about the school.
One thing is our social media strategy, and the other one our action plan of listening
18 in all the communication on the Internet, which channels do we want to listen and
which words do we want to be notified about when they are mentioned. I am just
236
trying to get back to your question...
MG: What encouraged...
Yes, what encouraged... The social media strategy is important because social media
19 20 is now affecting digital living and, maybe, you could be viewed as a digital native as
well. I don’t know where the age limit is goes, but when the whole world moved to
social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, and so on), you now have the direct channel for
communication with your users and stakeholders. So it would be foolish not to
consider, at least, consider to what degree you want to be present in social media.
But, on the other hand, we have the Internet. A lot of disconnected conversations are
going on the Internet, and not only social media. So we have to be aware of how and
what people are saying about us as organization, so we can, if needed, to be able to
answer people, and to engage in conversation, because so much of conversation is
carried out on the Internet. So it is logical, and necessary.
MG: How ASB is making decisions on how and where to involve to on social media
21 (like to go to Facebook or to Twitter, or...)?
NK: It is a question of which users you want to engage on which topics.
22 So, for example, even my mother and father are already on Facebook. Facebook is
becoming a hub of pretty much everybody using computer. Of course, you are also
maybe experiencing a counter reaction on these social media websites and a small
part of your friends or family are taking the action of not getting involved or do not
want to be there. However, with the rise of Facebook, we have a direct channel of all
possible and current students. And Facebook is great for engaging with possible new
students and present students of the school. So we consider Facebook to be a
communication channel with that group of stakeholders. Of course, when you leave
ASB as a graduate, you, probably, if not already, will assign to a LinkedIn profile to
manage your professional network. When you get out there and get your first job and
interact in your corporate life, you want to keep the professional network with your
peers. Therefore, LinkedIn is the other link with our stakeholders group, and
LinkedIn is our channel to approach graduates, alumni.
MG: So, do you choose social media application usually according to a stakeholder
23 group you want to reach?
237
NK: Sometimes it would be on which group you want to communicate with, but
24 could also be initiated on the topic of interest. I think, it’s not so much of the
question of whether you choose to consider the medium because of its users, but also
could be of what you need to communicate. And I do not think we would settle on
either or, but it will be a constant evaluation of what would be the right strategy to
distribute or communicate this message or this topic, how we want to interact with
our peers and users, and which medium, which channel would be the best for that.
And, I think, with time we would not want to choose which channel to distribute, but
we would consider how to form a message or topic, so it would be relevant to
distribute in both channels. Of course, that would be evaluated from project to
project. If we were able to create knowledge based in our organization how to uses
these channels, then it would make sense not to choose one over the other, but to
consider both of them, and consider if we could be present on both channels. So we
don’t keep some users or stakeholder or users for getting in.
MG: What are the goals for ASB to involve with social media? Every time you do
25 some communicational or social media marketing initiative, you have to have a goal.
So what are the goals for ASB?
NK: From traditional marketing or communication perspective – before the Internet
26 and social media campaigns, - it was more about choosing the right distribution
channel, the right message for the right people, and segment, your target group. So
they would get the right exposure towards the message. And that was – whether we
would like it or not, - it was very much funded in transmission paradigm of
communication. Maybe it was not created in the idea of transmission, but there were
not a lot of ways for the users – the receivers of the message – to interact. And with
the Internet and social media we have whole new range of possibilities towards
interacting and engaging in the conversation with our peers. So our goal is to be able
to facilitate conversation and engagement between our stakeholders and the school,
and in-between the stakeholders themselves. If we get the conversation going
between us and our users, then, first of all, we will have some loyalty from the users.
It would make sense that whenever you are able to engage your users in conversation
with you as an organization because they want to engage, the feel the need. So that
would be a step forward towards facilitating loyalty for our user base. So our goal is
to get loyalty and be able to facilitate loyalty, thereby, creating value for our school –
238
as an educational institution, and as a brand in the conscious of our alumni and in the
corporate life in Denmark.
MG: How the whole social media strategy fits the communication and marketing
27 strategy of the school?
NK: That is a bit difficult to answer right now because I have just received, as I told
28 you, a draft of our communication strategy. So, I think, our social media strategy will
be fitted towards our communication strategy. I think, our 2012 goal for the whole
school is towards being top business school in the world, we have to be focused on
becoming a lot more internationally acknowledged, and interact in international
environment of schools and not so much in local environment of business schools.
So, I think, it will be an international perspective of our strategy. And, I think, one of
the other point of our strategy is towards facilitating sustainable innovation. So, I
think, we would save on the need creating paper on traditional marketing because we
have the opportunity to engage with our stakeholders on digital platforms, on social
media websites and so on. I think we will try to create a social media strategy that
supports our strategic goals towards our goal of 2012. But, as I said, I have just
received the draft, so I cannot say specifically how we are going to do it.
MG: We covered now the general part of social media. I would like to move to more
29 specific things, to what ASB is actually doing with social media. Can you name the
main social media activities the school is involved with?
NK: For two and a half years we have had a blogging platform, our own blogging
30 platform, where you would be able as a student, or as a teacher, or as an employee of
ASB to create your own blog. And that has been quite an interesting to have that kind
of the platform. And some are using it right now. It is always difficult to engage
users to create in such a platform because they have to feel the need. Part of the
answer why we have not got enormous amount of active bloggers on weblogs.asb.dk
is [that] they have to feel the need of blogging in the context of ASB experience. And
we haven’t been able to communicate and to convince a lot of users that, first of all,
we have this platform and the possibility of creating a weblog at that platform. But
also that they have not been told or engaged into conversation, why they should be
blogging on that platform, and not on the other platform somewhere on Blogspot or
239
Wordpress blogging platforms. That is one initiative we have, and, I think, one of the
first initiatives that ASB facilitated.
Furthermore, we have presence on Facebook, which is kind of sporadic at the
31 moment and not that organized. And that is one of my goals to make some sense in
our presence at different social media websites and be able to point out some
convergence possibilities between these. Right now we have as official Facebook
page, we have semi-official Facebook group, we have a fan page for the Library, and
we have a fan page for ASB CAST, and we have a fan page on a way for a new
portal of sustainable innovation. Furthermore, we have these user driven or user
facilitated groups, pages on different study groups and so on.
So we have a lot of organizational pages, and we have some user pages as well. What
32 we would want to do is to organize our organizational effort – on Facebook, and
LinkedIn, and Twitter, and so on – to facilitate the convergence between these
channels, and also to try to get a culture on this place for using and engaging our
users on social media. That will take time, because a lot of our employees are not that
accustomed to use this kind of communication. Maybe, they are private users as you
and me, and we know the use of engagement on these media between users. But the
rules of the presence and engagement from a corporate point of view are not that
clear right at the moment.
MG: So the aim would be to coordinate these all different activities, and to...?
NK: At least to have some kind of view on how we do it and do things on the sites.
33 34 And that we have organized way of listening. So when some students or some former
students would want to know where you can get some kind of [information],
apartment in the city, and when they post a question in these groups – whether it is
our official group or user driven group, - we want to be present to and try to catch
these questions.
MG: Can you name which channel, initiative is the most important for the school?
NK: I think, the first most important initiative right now would be our presence at
35 36 Facebook, but that is from my point of view. As you write in your questions, you are
aware that ASB Alumni has just created their platform ASB Connect. So from the
Alumni perspective, Connect is the most important platform. And that, of course, is
240
very important channel as well. And that is an independent initiative, it is their own
platform. So from Alumni perspective, it is quite important that we try to move
graduates into assigning a profile on Connect. But, I think, our Facebook presence is
one of the most important ones right at the moment.
MG: Can you tell a bit more about ASB CAST?
NK: ASB CAST is our new answer to how to make educational television and, of
37 38 course, we consider ASB CAST as brand [branding] initiative. So it is an initiative
that it is aimed towards creating a brand value and awareness for all stakeholder
levels. But we have been working with ASB CAST for 10-11 months at the moment.
We have just been launching version 2 of ASB CAST on a new software platform
that we have been able to develop ourselves. ASB CAST is going to become a
platform of all media created by ASB – both lectures videos and podcast
presentations, and these specifically produced web-TV presentations as you [can] see
at ASB CAST today. And ASB CAST is considered to be a new kind of media hub
for ASB. We have been just road-mapping the development for the next 2-3-4
versions of ASB CAST. It is going to be distributional platform for all media on this
site, so that our current students and post-graduates are able to feeding on specific
courses or tags of interest that could be a name of a favourite professor or so on. It is
an initiative that is considered to be the brand [branding] channel from the
communication perspective.
MG: Can you name the most successful and the least successful initiative so far on
39 social media?
NK: The least successful is clearly ASB you. If you...
MG: I’ve heard about it...
NK: Well, ASByou was a mistake in the way that it was an idea of trying to create a
40 41 42 competitor to Facebook, just around ASB student network. And you cannot make
students create and utilize ASByou just to communicate with other students, and
maybe getting some information from the organization behind because all of the
students are already communicating with each other on Facebook. So it was a failure
in that sense that there were no strong enough argument to make students to move to
ASByou and make ASByou a part of their daily life on social media because it was
241
not considered a valuable alternative to Facebook.
MG: ASByou was aimed at present students not for alumni, because alumni also had
43 something related with ASB you, and then they moved to Connect, right?
NK: Yes
MG: But it is not exactly the same initiative...
NK: No. ASB Connect is to be considered as more valuable hub of interests between
44 45 46 these post-graduates because they have a reason to be there. Present students had not
have the reason to be on ASB Alumni [should be ASByou] because there were not
anything, at least from their point of view, valuable for them to find on ASByou that
they could not find through Facebook. So ASByou was a failure in that sense. And
ASB Connect is the platform that connected all of the alumni from ASB. And that is
the value of ASB Connect. Furthermore, the team behind the alumni network
Connect is very good at creating the valuable content and interactions between the
alumni from ASB. So Connect platform has had and has now a lot of value of ASB
alumni.
MG: Don’t you think that if ASByou was a competition for Facebook, Connect would
47 be a competition for LinkedIn?
NK: Not in that way. I think there are no the tools needed to be able to separate your
48 alumni network of ASB in LinkedIn at this current time. So, I think, that value of
ASB Connect is regarded high enough of the users that they want to use this
platform, as well as using Facebook or LinkedIn profile. So, I think, there is enough
value in the sense that you are connected to your past alumni of ASB, so they want to
use the Connect platform. And, I think, it is a way of separating at least that is an
assumption of mine, when you are an alumni of ASB, it is a way of separating your
professional peered network from your corporate stands at the moment you have on
your LinkedIn profile. Maybe, you are connected to some of your peers of present
ASB students, who will be graduates, but there is also a lot of value of being a part of
a large network of ASB Alumni because they have their ASB pasts, they have that in
common, and they are using it to facilitate the involvement between each other.
MG: What would be the most successful initiative?
49 242
NK: I think, if you asked our communication director, she would say that ASB
50 Alumni has been quite successful in their initiatives. And, I think, I hope, that we
will experience some further success with ASB CAST. Because we are, in fact,
seeing that our external partners that use ASB CAST are quite happy about it as a
brand [branding] channel, and as a brand value of ASB on all stakeholder levels.
ASB CAST has shown that it has high degree of value towards our stakeholders. I
think, ASB CAST will be, I hope it will be quite successful. That is also on my part
that is partly because I am a project manager of ASB CAST.
I think our blogs were, if we measure it on user experience, I think our blogs are not
51 extraordinary successful but, I think, it is valuable that we have created a platform of
ASB blogs around ASB.
So, I think, I would say that the most successful would be Alumni network.
MG: Do we still have a bit more time?
NK: Yes
MG: Well, the other part will be shortly about the future. But, at first, I would like to
52 53 54 55 ask, was there a fear of criticism before going to social media? Social media is the
platform where everything is open. People, actually, are pretty willing to criticize,
especially corporations that are present online. What about ASB? Weren’t they
afraid of that before going?
NK: I think every organization that has been using social media will be afraid to
56 some degree of interacting in the direct conversation between and with their peers.
So, in organizations like ASB you have to have a lot of administrative staff that has
not got that much of the feeling with social media rules or rules of the conversation.
So it is the whole new communication paradigm arising. It is a new, as you say, the
possibility of direct conversation between organizations and their peers and in
between peers around the organization. So the organization has a new reality to face,
and that is the reality of active user conversation, and the possibility, as you say, of
direct criticism. I think, ASB as an organization has a lot to learn, and we have to
mature in our communication, and in a way of communicating before we will master
these new media.
243
MG: Basically, ASB would encourage criticism in order to learn something out of it
57 then. Do you have a strategy how to respond to it?
NK: I think, with the rise of social media we have to acknowledge both the risk and
58 the possibility of getting user feedback, whether it is positive or negative. And, I
think, we have a lot of willingness towards engaging in that kind of valuable
conversation, whether it would be critique or positive feedback. But that is not to say
that we would [encourage]. We have to re-evaluate our culture of being, let’s not say
afraid but for some people and some part of organization it is a new world that they
would be able to – whether they want to or not – to have criticism right in their faces
and the users demand something from them. That is a new way of interacting with
your peers. So, I think, we have the willingness to interact to some degree, but to say
that we are so mature that would be able to handle it all, that would be to “take my
mouth too full”.
MG: We’ve already talked that the school would like to exploit Facebook more, and
59 ASB CAST is a new channel where you have a lot of hopes. What are other future
plans with social media?
NK: I have said that Facebook is, probably, our first level of involvement to be able
60 to make some convergence on our presence of Facebook. But right now on the tip of
that, it would be creating our presence at LinkedIn as well. Because as an
organization we see these two network as the most important hubs. We have the
largest amounts of users on these two networks. And LinkedIn is very much about to
become - or having “the second wind” – because of Facebook. I think, a lot of
research has said that LinkedIn was too pre-mature for the world at that time when it
was created. With Facebook people have been educated on how to be present and
how to interact on social media. Thereby, LinkedIn has gained this “second wind”.
The level of users present at LinkedIn is constantly rising right now. So LinkedIn
will be our “second leg” on our social media presence.
MG: What about Twitter, for instance, or YouTube?
NK: We are present at YouTube. ASB CAST has a channel at YouTube as well. So
61 62 we have kind of a bridge between ASB CAST and its user on the YouTube channel.
We will want to be present at all the hubs of media and conversational interaction on
244
the Internet to the extent that we find it to be valuable towards our goals of
communication and interaction. And let’s just say that we need to assess whether we
have critical mass on these media or not.
MG: And two more questions. What kind of user you have in mind when getting
63 involved with social media? Usually you think about students – present, prospect,
alumni...
NK: ...but also very much our stakeholders – corporate organizations as well, and
64 other educational organizations. So ASB CAST is very much aimed towards creating
a value for the brand towards external stakeholders and, secondly, of course, towards
internal stakeholders. So it is not to say that we do not acknowledge the fact that we
have other stakeholders then present [students] or postgraduates. I think we consider
them all to be important.
MG: What [kind of their] needs would you like to address when you go to social
65 media?
NK: That is a very difficult question to answer because the needs could arise from
66 different places in the organization that possible students would like to learn about,
how present students have experienced or are experiencing [ASB], how to attend
ASB, they want to know how the city forms the whole culture around the school.
They would also want to know how the post-graduates, the alumni, are considering
the educational value, how they had been able to get work after studying in this
place.
So, social media is important for many communicational purposes. Some of it is in
67 towards addressing questions from possible students, and some of it would be
interacting with present students and giving them some channels, whether this will be
heard by organization, the interaction would be a lot more smooth and convenient.
Our post-graduates, the alumni group, would want to keep up with the new research,
knowledge from ASB, so that is a pro of ASB CAST, where we distribute our
knowledge. So we regard all these media as channels of possible messages and
demands of the users. And they are a lot more convenient both for us as an
organization, but also for the users. So ‘convenience is a king’.
MG: And the last question which I missed before would be: ASB has a lot of different
68 245
initiatives from different divisions like the Career centre, Alumni, even SL– they
could be counted as well. Are you trying to coordinate it somehow or those different
divisions are on their own and they do just what they have in mind?
NK: I think, with my position as project manager and an aggregator of social media
69 effort, we would try to coordinate our effort of social media in future, and our draft
on our social media strategy will want to facilitate that to some extent. But that is not
to say that we want to control and tighten up our divisions in their use of the
channels. A lot of the times, if not all of the times, it is the divisions, which are in
direct contact somehow with their users and peers. So they know which channels
they would want to use and their users would want them to use. So, I think, I am
considering our strategy more as a kind of guideline strategy, and attempt to
aggregate our efforts. So they will be able to get help and insights on how to use
different media, and not so much about them being controlled by centralised division.
Of course, we would want to know which groups and how they interact with their
70 peers, but that is not to say that we want to control.
MG: Well, I am done with my questions, would like to add something?
NK: I don’t think I have...
71 72 .
246
Appendix 7: ASB related documents
1) ASB news (2 November, 2006)
2) Aarhus University news (6 November, 2006)
3) ASB strategy
4) ASB facts and figures
5) Welcome brochure
247
1) ASB news (2 November, 2006)
Document: news article for the archives
Title: Aarhus School of Business says yes to merger
Author: ASB
Source: ASB.dk (www.asb.dk)
Available at: http://www.asb.dk/news.aspx?pid=16479&focus=13027&year=2006
Referenced as: (Aarhus School of Business, 2006)
Aarhus School of Business says yes to merger [2 November, 2006]
The merger with the University of Aarhus means more money for business research, even better
opportunities for students and considerable growth potential for the business community.
The Board of Aarhus School of Business (ASB) has today approved a merger with the University of
Aarhus. ASB will thus become a part of the new University of Aarhus together with the Danish
National Environmental Research Institute and the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences.
- Our conditions have been met, and we are therefore very happy to sign the merger contract with
the University of Aarhus. The merger will have a large impact for both our employees, students and
the Danish business community. The merger provides us with a completely new range of options
for utilising the ASB competences and for speeding up the positive development we are currently
seeing. Together with our new partners in the new University of Aarhus, we will internationally
rank among the very best, says Erik Højsholt, Chairman of the Board of ASB.
The merger with the University of Aarhus is based on three conditions:

ASB becomes the Business School of the new University of Aarhus (in the form of a socalled “professional school”) and will thus be able to keep its strong brand and close ties to
the business community.

The Danish Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Helge Sander, has stated that
he will propose an amendment to the Danish University Act, so that it will also comprise
“professional schools”. This will, among other things, provide the framework for
establishing a number of similar schools in the future.

As part of the merger agreement, the basic appropriation for research will be increased. The
merger makes it possible to partially finance this via a sale of the ASB buildings to the state.
248
This sale is subject to approval from the Finance Committee. More resources for research
will at the same time strengthen the study programmes.
The new, improved framework conditions will enable ASB to boost commercial research, and ASB
will therefore be appointing new employees. The aim is to advertise 15 new PhD positions by
Christmas.
ASB will at the same time provide the new University of Aarhus with new opportunities for
strengthening and extending relations between Danish research and the business community and
supplying more business-oriented and innovative employees for trade and industry.
- The merger with the University of Aarhus includes many exciting perspectives for our employees
and new opportunities and challenges for our dynamic research environment. The merger will also
provide new ways of developing our study programmes via more interdisciplinary collaboration at
the new university. In addition, it is important that we maintain our position as a business school
and thus our strong profile within business research and education, both nationally and
internationally, says Associate Professor Ole Hagh, shop steward at ASB, and adds:
- I am very happy to see that our working conditions will not deteriorate, but that, on the contrary,
we are being given the opportunity to take on new challenges and contribute to furthering ASB’s
positive development.
- For our students, the merger will provide many new and exciting perspectives in the form of, for
example, access to a number of totally new research-based subjects and study programmes. At the
same time, we hope that the construction of new buildings can now get underway, says Thomas
Ommen, student and member of the Board of ASB.
> Please send any questions to or comments on the merger between ASB and the University of
Aarhus to [email protected]
Further information
Erik Højsholt, Chairman
Tel. +45 20 10 65 80
249
2)
Aarhus University news (6 November, 2006)
Document: news article for the archives
Title: A new, larger University of Aarhus takes shape
Author: Aarhus University
Source: ASB.dk (www.asb.dk)
Available at: http://www.au.dk/en/news/archive/061106
Referenced as: (Aarhus University, 2006)
A new, larger University of Aarhus takes shape [6 November, 2006]
Four institutions become one new University of Aarhus
On 1 January 2007, the Aarhus School of Business (ASB), the Danish Institute of Agricultural
Sciences (DIAS) and the Danish National Environmental Research Institute (NERI) will
amalgamate with the University of Aarhus. The boards of these institutions have now approved the
amalgamation, so the decision is clear. Plans to amalgamate DIAS and NERI with the University of
Aarhus were resolved some time ago, and the agreement with ASB has now fallen into place as
well.
“This is a good day for both the University of Aarhus and for Denmark,” says Mr Jens Bigum,
Chairman of the University Board. “Our negotiations with the institutions and the Ministry of
Science, Technology and Innovation have been both positive and constructive, and I feel we have
achieved a very strong result. I’m pleased that we’ve managed to concentrate significant elements
of Danish agricultural and environmental research at the University of Aarhus, and I’m happy that
the Aarhus School of Business – with its major strength in the commercial area and its
comprehensive, well-developed collaboration with the business community – will also be part of
the new university. This new research hub will really enable Denmark to meet the global challenges
we are facing, and the new University of Aarhus will play a distinctive role in the university world
– both in Denmark and abroad.”
Rector Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen is also pleased and says, “Now we’re looking forward to making a
start on setting up the best framework for good, constructive collaboration involving all the present
institutions. The amalgamation process must be a success in order to enable the new University of
Aarhus to make its mark among the very best. And this means that staff members at all levels of the
organisations must be involved in the process.”
250
A feature of the new University of Aarhus will be the combination of the university’s extensive,
internationally recognised research capacity and significant attraction for students, ASB’s highprofile commercial positions, the nature and environment research facilities at NERI and the
strategic, application-oriented experimental research and innovation environments at DIAS. This
combination establishes a common basis for partnership between the new University of Aarhus, the
innovative business community, and public authorities in Denmark and abroad. The new University
of Aarhus will be able to utilise such an amalgamation to make a significant contribution to
Denmark’s ability to develop and become one of the leading knowledge societies in the world.
Composition of the new Board
As of 2007, the new Board will include representatives from all four institutions.
Day-to-day management at the new University of Aarhus
The day-to-day management of the new University of Aarhus will consist of Rector Lauritz B.
Holm-Nielsen, Pro-rector Katherine Richardson and Director Stig Møller, while Børge Obel
(current Rector of ASB) will be Dean of the Aarhus School of Business, the University of Aarhus;
Just Jensen (current Rector of DIAS) will be Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Science; and
Henrik Sandbech will remain Director General of the Danish National Environmental Research
Institute – added to which are the deans of the university’s current five faculties: Dean Bodil Due,
the Faculty of Humanities; Dean Søren Mogensen, the Faculty of Health Sciences; Dean Svend
Hylleberg, the Faculty of Social Sciences; Dean Carsten Riis, the Faculty of Theology; and Dean
Erik Meineche Schmidt, the Faculty of Science.
More information
Further details are available from
Jens Bigum, Chairman of the Board, the University of Aarhus, tel +45 8942 1132 / 2014 4155,
[email protected]
Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen, Rector, the University of Aarhus, tel +45 8942 1141 / 2899 2584,
[email protected]
Facts about the new University of Aarhus
The new University of Aarhus will be an international, effective centre for education and
knowledge, with a staff amounting to approximately 5,700 (full-time equivalent), and with a
251
capacity for educating about 30,000 students and 2,000 PhD students. The new University of
Aarhus will provide research of the highest international quality of a volume the equivalent of
approximately 25% of the total public research carried out in Denmark.
DIAS will be given a position as a faculty at the new University of Aarhus. ASB will become a
professional school at the same level as a faculty. ASB’s special title of business school will remain
and be further strengthened. NERI will be placed as a new National Institute for the Environment.
Facts about the four organisations
The University of Aarhus makes a major research impact within a wide range of subject areas and
is positioned among the best in international rankings. The university features a comprehensive
PhD programme at a high academic level. The University of Aarhus is Denmark’s second-largest
educational establishment, with approximately 22,000 students, about 3,700 members of staff (fulltime equivalent) and a turnover of approximately DKK 2.5 billion.
The Aarhus School of Business features an internationally attractive research and education
environment in the area of commerce, and has a highly reputable, extensive collaboration with the
Danish business community. With its approximately 7,000 students, the Aarhus School of Business
is currently in a strong position as the sixth-largest accredited business school in Europe. ASB has
about 560 members of staff (full-time equivalent) and a turnover of approximately DKK 350
million.
The Danish National Environmental Research Institute has an internationally recognised
capacity for strategic research, monitoring and consultancy services, with a clear aim to provide
support for the public authorities. NERI has about 420 members of staff (full-time equivalent) and a
turnover of approximately DKK 250 million. NERI has departments at three locations in Denmark,
with its headquarters in Roskilde.
The Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences has a well-established, recognised capacity – both
in Denmark and abroad – for basic, strategic and application-oriented experimental research and
innovation with a clear business-related target. DIAS has about 900 members of staff (full-time
equivalent) and a turnover of approximately DKK 580 million. DIAS has departments at six
locations in Denmark, with its headquarters in Foulum.
2 November 2006
Anders Frølund
252
[email protected]
Communication Office
253
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
AARHUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, AARHUS UNIVERSITY
JULY 2009
AARHUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
AARHUS UNIVERSITY
2
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
ASB STRATEGY 2009-2012
1. Introduction
In the course of the latest strategy period (2006-2009), Aarhus
School of Business, Aarhus University (ASB) saw significant
growth and change. All scientific and administrative employees
at ASB have delivered strong results and made a positive
contribution to fulfilling the strategy in the form of research,
teaching and collaboration with the business community,
organisations and society. This is a very satisfactory
development which illustrates how ASB is, in every way, an
institution characterised by high international standards and
which makes a clear contribution to society by conducting highquality research, offering popular study programmes and
producing talented students and graduates, maintaining an
active dialogue with businesses and society in general, and
being an attractive and inspiring workplace.
ASB’s Strategy 2009-2012 builds on the excellent results that
we achieved during the most recent period of growth and
change, and which are deeply rooted in the entire 70-year
history of ASB.
En route to 2020
The long-term aim of the strategy process is for ASB, before
year-end 2020, to be known by businesses and organisations
as well as by potential students and researchers – both
nationally and internationally – as one of the leading business
schools in the world in terms of both its research and its study
programmes.
The strategy for 2009-2012 means that ASB will continue to
work towards its vision for 2020, increasing the level of
strategic ambition based on the solid foundations created
during the most recent strategy period.
The strategic ambition for the coming strategy period is to
become a leading international business school. This is a
natural ambition for a business school which is part of Aarhus
University, an international top-100 university seeing strong
growth.
For each strategy period up until 2020, we will direct our focus
at a particular theme which will take us to the forefront of
current development trends and allow us to meet the needs of
the business community through interdisciplinary and external
research and educational activities with a strong academic
foundation within the relevant thematic focus area. The
intention is for the theme, during the strategy period, to provide
a new outlook and ensure a change in attitude which will take
us forward and become an integrated part of our mindset.
One example worthy of mention is that ‘integrated
internationalisation’ was a central theme in the latest strategy
period. This has resulted in a giant leap forwards in terms of
the degree of internationalisation at virtually all levels, which
means that the internationalisation aspect has today become
an integrated part of our fundamental thinking about ASB and
the activities which we are planning and involving ourselves in.
In the coming strategy period, our special focus will be on the
theme sustainable growth through innovation.
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
3
2. ASB’s mission and vision
Strategy 2009-2012 stakes out the direction of ASB’s
development towards fulfilling its vision for 2020. The starting
point is ASB’s mission and vision, while more specific targets
and efforts are described in the action plans related to the
strategy.
Mission
Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University
contributes added value to society through research,
education and dialogue on companies and organisations
and their surroundings.
Together with the rest of Aarhus University, we develop
knowledge, welfare and culture through research and
research-based education, dissemination and consulting.
Vision
supplier to the international business community and to the
global community in general.
We want to offer a broad portfolio of nationally and
internationally attractive study programmes based on strong
research, while increasingly attracting and admitting applicants
of a high standing.
2.2 Indications that ASB fulfils its strategic ambitions
For ASB to reach a level as a leading international business
school by year-end 2012, we have, among other things, met
the following overall objectives:
We will be one of the few business schools in the
world to have achieved triple-crown accreditation, i.e.
EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA accreditation.
ASB wants to be a leading international business school.
ASB will develop and transform knowledge and ideas,
that create sustainable growth through innovation for
the benefit of students, companies, organisations and
society.
We will engage in systematic benchmarking with a
view to developing quality and efficiency in
collaboration with a relevant portfolio of leading
international business schools. The portfolio will form
the basis for establishing strategic collaboration with
one or more partners.
2.1 A leading international business school
At the start of the strategy period, ASB already enjoys
international recognition. We collaborate with strong
international partners, our study programmes are sought by
large numbers of foreign students, and we are able to attract
many international employees and visiting researchers.
With the new level of strategic ambition, ASB will continue and
further develop its successful internationalisation process,
focusing on expanding our international networks and the
nature of our strategic collaboration with a selected group of
business schools at a high international level, among other
things through membership of Coimbra, PRME, Global
Compact, AACSB and other relevant fora. We want to highlight
the fact that we enjoy a strong position compared with other
leading business schools, among other things through our
particular focus on sustainable growth through innovation.
ASB wants to be a leading research and educational institution
generating research of the highest international standard and
publishing articles in the most prestigious journals. During the
strategy period, we will focus even more sharply on research
quality rather than research quantity, and our research centres
will continue to contribute frontline research of the highest
international standard. We want to be an attractive partner and
We will be among the top 50 in one or more business
school rankings in Europe or in similar relevant
rankings covering education and/or research.
We will establish an interdisciplinary theme within
sustainable growth through innovation which creates
relevant world-class research across ASB’s
departments and centres.
We will create strong national and international
business partnerships.
4
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
3. Coherent and sustainable
activities
A central element in ASB’s strategy for the period is
sustainability in research and education. Each of these areas
must be strengthened and developed through setting targets
and formulating strategies which are directed, to a special
degree, at the primary stakeholders within each area: the
international research community, coming and present
students, businesses, organisations and other stakeholders.
We will do this by unfolding the concept which we call New
Business Classic. New Business Classic involves developing
our classic mercantile skills to include appurtenant
competencies and the special theme for the individual strategy
periods. Up until 2012, ‘New’ will thus, among other things,
consist in focusing on sustainable growth through innovation.
We will renew the classic business school through research
projects both internally at ASB and in collaboration with the rest
of Aarhus University and international collaboration partners.
We will give priority to projects which strengthen our relations
with the business community, for example co-financed
research, industrial PhDs and continuing and further
educational activities.
Our activities create sustainable growth both for ourselves and
for our stakeholders. The starting point for all the activities is
our good employees, our physical resources, our organisation
and our way of doing things – our culture and processes as
part of Aarhus University.
All the elements hang together and are mutually dependent. A
large share of the value and hallmark of ASB depends on the
interaction of the various elements. Research is key to the
study programmes through the students’ encounter with both
high-level academic competencies and research-based
thinking. New technological opportunities and innovation
underpin the interaction between all the various activities, and
new financially and ethically sustainable solutions emerge.
Dialogue is key as concerns the development of the study
programmes, contact with the outside world during the studies
and in the transition from the university to the first job. Finally,
our physical framework, human resources and the way in
which we work impact all activities and therefore form an
important and integrated part of ASB’s overall strategy.
3.1. Interdisciplinary theme on sustainable growth through
innovation
As part of our efforts to support and develop the interaction, we
will work in a targeted fashion with an interdisciplinary theme
on sustainable growth through innovation. The theme must
drive innovation and act as a catalyst for the strategy, among
other things in the form of the co-financing of research projects
in collaboration between ASB’s centres and departments, the
undertaking of knowledge dissemination and the supporting of
educational activities.
The theme must underpin the national strategy of Denmark
being a leading nation within green growth and responsible
management. It must underpin the commercial potential in
working in a targeted fashion with sustainable solutions, for
example within special sectors such as energy and the
environment.
However, the thematic focus is not limited to these sectors as
sustainable solutions are also integrated in many other
processes in a company or in an organisation, for example
logistics, organic production and green marketing,
microeconomic and macroeconomic processes, sustainable
cost-benefit,
responsible
investment,
value-based
management,
international
communication,
knowledge
management, corporate governance, auditing, environmental
law and business law, globalisation and the organisation of
global businesses, labour market and integration, CSR, green
communication, the handling of rights etc., for example based
on knowledge about markets, and their socioeconomic,
linguistic and cultural characteristics.
Innovation is a central element in the thematic activities,
including the development of new business models for the
energy and environmental sector, intrapreneurship and
entrepreneurship,
social
entrepreneurship,
user-driven
innovation etc.
The theme must be developed into a national fulcrum and
network for sustainable business development and innovation
bringing together businesses, researchers and public
authorities. It will be a central element in strategic research
projects, for example financed by the Danish Council for
Strategic Research.
As part of the work on the theme, ASB must enter into strategic
partnerships on research projects concerning sustainable
growth and the commercial exploitation of green technology
with a number of nationally and internationally leading
businesses and organisations which are active within this area.
We will be a pivot for the establishment of international
collaboration in relation to sustainable investments.
The thematic activities undertaken during the strategy period
must contribute to the preparation of a report for ‘The
Principles for Responsible Management Education’ (PRME) in
the UN in accordance with the principles of sustainability and
corporate responsibility.
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
5
4. Research
During the most recent strategy period, the quality of our
research production has been strengthened. There has been a
marked increase in the number of research publications, in
particular the number of peer-reviewed articles. So far, a total
of ten research centres have been set up within ASB’s
strongest research areas, contributing frontline research at the
highest international level.
3) Research of relevance and topicality which is
communicated to the business community and other
relevant parties. Research activities within sustainable
growth through innovation will contribute to achieving this
object and strengthen ASB’s profile.
4.1. Vision
4.3. How will ASB achieve these objectives?
ASB wants to become a leading international business school
which is recognised internationally for its excellent and
innovation research into businesses and other organisations
and their surroundings. By fulfilling this objective we will
contribute to realising Aarhus University’s vision of being a
leading international university.
A lively research environment
ASB will encourage innovation, collaboration and dialogue
across academic and organisational barriers without
compromising the academic freedom of individual researchers.
We will acknowledge methodological and theoretical diversity,
ensure access to international research environments and
facilitate the exchange of ideas and collaboration within and
between departments and units.
We want to provide groundbreaking research into the
challenges and the complexity facing businesses and
organisations at the beginning of the twenty-first century with
particular focus on the theme of sustainable growth through
innovation. To achieve this, ASB must take as its starting point
its sound and solid theoretical and methodological foundation
so as to encourage innovative research, also across specialist
academic fields, and ensure a strong research base for our
broad portfolio of study programmes.
We will produce research which both satisfies the demand for
academic expertise and is of strategic importance to users. It is
important that the research results generated are relevant to
businesses and other stakeholders, and that the research
results are also communicated to a broader audience. This is
done through PR and continuing educational activities, via the
research@asb portal and through research partnerships with
non-academic partners and through the strict observance of
academic criteria for quality and stringency. In other words,
ASB must strive for the highest academic quality and at the
same time demonstrate relevance for private and public
stakeholders.
4.2. Research objectives
ASB’s research strategy has four objectives:
1) Innovative and groundbreaking research at the highest
international level. Good research is the foundation for
everything else.
2) Increased participation in projects which can contribute
to
promoting
interdisciplinary
and
international
collaboration.
4) Development of academic talents and competencies.
Academic performance criteria
ASB wants clear criteria for academic quality and career
progression. The criteria must take account of academic
diversity, and they must accommodate a future bibliometric
indicator model. The criteria must allow benchmarking with
international business schools.
External financing
We have maintained or increased our market share of research
funding and other forms of external financing which – in a fastgrowing market – implies a considerable increase in the total
amount of external funding obtained.
Administrative support
Research staff must live up to increasing requirements. This is
not least attributable to the fact that the generation of external
research funding will be given a high priority in the coming
years. We will provide the best possible administrative support
for ASB’s research staff, for example in connection with
applications for research funds and reporting.
High-quality research a priority
ASB will prioritise resources for the most active research
groups. The research centres will continue to be of decisive
importance to frontline research at ASB, and the research
centre portfolio will undergo continuous assessment. The
contracts with the existing centres will be extended if they meet
their targets and continue to develop, and we will support
forward-looking fields of research in their endeavours to be
granted centre status.
ASB will fund research initiatives which support our theme of
sustainable growth through innovation.
6
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
ASB will support research-based initiatives which promote
collaboration with non-academic partners.
Financial buffers must be created which make it possible for
departments to invest their research funding strategically, and
a financing model will be developed which encourages the
external financing of PhDs and postdocs.
Targeted development of promising young talent
ASB will continue to work to ensure the first-class training of
researchers. The graduate school and the various research
training programmes must offer high-quality courses in
academic method in the early phases of the PhD programme.
Senior researchers must also be given the opportunity of
developing their skills, also with regard to research
management.
We want to increase the number of PhD students and develop
the use of the master-class system, preferably in collaboration
with other parts of Aarhus University. We want all priority
research fields to take an active part in a research training
programme.
We want to work to ensure that PhDs trained at ASB find the
most attractive jobs, for example at the best international
business schools.
Internationalisation
We want to ensure at all times that ASB’s research is
represented in the best international peer-reviewed journals
and other similar relevant media. We will achieve this, among
other things, through joint publications with international top
researchers, and ASB’s researchers must increasingly take
part in research projects with international top researchers.
We will maintain the high number of international visiting
professors and participate in and organise international
conferences. We will develop an ambitious visiting programme
for all departments. Through international recruitment we will
attract the best talents by scouring networks, using all
communication channels and being present at conferences
and other networking events.
We will use the technological possibilities available to develop
international contacts. For example, virtual assessment
committees will make it possible for internationally
acknowledged top researchers to be represented on the PhD
assessment committees.
4.4. Tasks
Below is a list of the tasks which must be undertaken to realise
the research targets:
Identifying the scope for creating a working
environment which fosters innovation and creativity.
Finalising a qualifications framework and pay
incentive system.
Comparing the research quality criteria and the
bibliometric authority lists with a view to ensuring
coherence.
Finalising an international benchmarking system for
research.
Reviewing the administrative support and the
competencies and resources of the administrative
staff.
Developing research support functions (central and
local).
Evaluating the research centres prior to expiry of
centre contracts.
Developing a financing system for PhD fellowships
which makes it possible to mix the university’s
financing with external grants.
Developing information material for visiting
professors.
Focus on the targeted dissemination of research
results, both nationally and internationally.
The tasks are described in greater detail in the action
plans related to the strategy.
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
7
5. Education
ASB educates tomorrow’s leaders and specialists within the
mercantile profession. As an EQUIS-accredited business
school, ASB therefore offers a broad portfolio of full-time and
part-time high-quality and research-based study programmes.
The study programmes are strongly research-based and with a
natural progression, while also being characterised by a highly
flexible programme structure and course offering focused on
the students’ background and on life-long learning. A majority
of the MA/MSc study programmes are offered in English, while
most of the BA/BSc programmes are taught in Danish.
Developments in recent years have resulted in a flexible,
robust and transparent structure, and we have implemented
and constantly validate the competencies developed and the
descriptions of objectives in relation to our portfolio of study
programmes. These developments are in line with the Bologna
process, and we have now been awarded an ECTS label. This
provides us with a solid foundation for further developments.
According to feedback from both graduates and prospective
employers, ASB delivers high-quality and relevant education.
5.1 Vision
ASB will continue to offer and develop attractive and businessoriented full-time and part-time study programmes at a high
level. The study programmes will be attractive both nationally
and internationally and will benefit students, businesses,
organisations and society. Particular focus will be on the theme
of sustainable growth through innovation, including the
development of study programmes and programmes with the
relevant tonings within the theme.
5.2 Objectives for the educational area
In the strategy period, ASB will work with the following
objectives for the educational area:
1) Maintain and develop the broad portfolio of strongly
research-based study programmes at BA/BSc and MA/MSc
level and with relevant tonings within the theme of
sustainable growth through innovation
The broad academic base of the study programmes will be
maintained. At the same time the relevance of the portfolio of
study programmes will be ensured at all times through
interaction with the relevant research environments and the
possible tonings so that the portfolio is developed based on the
theme of sustainable growth through innovation. We will create
clear criteria and processes for establishing new study
programmes at ASB.
2) Qualitative growth in the day-time study programmes
ASB will attract more applicants of a particularly high quality for
both our BA/BSC and our MA/MSc programmes. In admitting
applicants to the MA/MSc programmes, we will endeavour to
ensure an equal distribution between our own BA/BSc students
and BA/BSc students from other institutions, including a
significant share of international students. The number of
students admitted to the day-time programmes will be
unchanged.
3) Growth in learning and IT support
ASB will create qualitative growth in learning and opportunities
for learning on the various study programmes with IT as a
supporting factor of which we will increasingly avail ourselves.
4) IT as a competency
Within all our academic disciplines, we educate students to
master state-of-the-art IT systems and IT tools, making the
necessary resources available.
5) Good career prospects – also for international MA/MSc
students
ASB will ensure good career opportunities for international
MA/MSc students.
6) Growth in continuing and further educational activities
ASB will expand its portfolio of activities and be an attractive
provider of continuing and further educational activities for the
Danish and international business community. We want to
attract new groups of applicants, more high-quality applicants
and applicants who are willing to pay for quality.
7) Life-long learning
It is important to think of education as life-long learning. This
means, among other things, that the entire field of continuing
and further educational activities must be coordinated with, for
example, our alumni to a greater extent.
5.3 How will ASB achieve these objectives?
DAY-TIME STUDY PROGRAMMES
Application and admission
ASB will attract more high-quality applicants to both its BA/BSc
and MA/MSc study programmes. The introduction of a
screening procedure, for example the GMAT system, is being
investigated as a possibility in relation to foreign students.
Moreover, we will quality-assure our admission system in
relation to relevant business academy programmes. Also, we
will offer more our guidance to applicants with particular focus
on upper secondary schools.
8
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
Learning processes
ASB will develop ‘the multi-cultural learning room’ and the
multi-cultural business school and encourage the development
of digital learning rooms and the relevant pedagogics and
didactics, including working with learning styles. IT must be an
integrated part of teaching activities and exams where relevant
and possible, and research environments which can provide
input must be approached. There will also be a stronger focus
on pedagogical and didactic support and development for all
lecturers and on supportive pedagogical initiatives in relation to
students. We will develop and introduce integrated and flexible
courses/workshops based on the ASB Library’s expert
knowledge about the use of information sources and insight
into the interplay between searches and the subsequent
handling and use of information in learning processes, the
acquisition of knowledge and knowledge construction.
Teaching content and objectives
The theme of sustainable growth through innovation is tailored
where and in the form which is relevant, for example by
establishing new study programmes such as the BSc in
Business Administration and Sustainability and the BSc in
Business Administration, Business Law and the Environment,
and the research potential at Aarhus University as a whole is
utilised to a greater extent for the purpose innovating new
academic disciplines. Within a number of specially selected
areas at MA/MSc level, the elitist dimension will be given a
higher priority.
Evaluation of teaching activities
The results of the ongoing evaluations of teaching activities
and graduate surveys and the alumni database are used
actively to develop our study programmes.
Study environment
There will be a constant focus on maintaining and further
developing the good study environment at ASB.
CONTINUING AND FURTHER EDUCATION
Application and admission
ASB will attract new groups of applicants, among other things
through increased focus on tailored activities, also in English,
and such activities will not only be offered in Aarhus. There will
be an increased focus on clarifying the expectations of
students/participants and ASB through more precise
communications about course contents and service levels.
Learning processes and physical framework
There will be an increased focus on developing special
teaching competencies of specific relevance to continuing and
further educational activities and on developing a professional
framework which can accommodate differentiated service
levels depending on the fees charged.
Teaching content and objectives
Within the theme of sustainable growth through innovation, we
will establish one full-time MBA programme. Moreover, we will
develop a flexible master programme in languages,
communication and knowledge, a flexible master programme in
taxes and duties and an MBA in Technology for qualified
applicants with a technical background. More courses and
conferences will be organised for top managers in the business
community as well as a summer programme which includes
international researchers within the field of continuing and
further education.
Life-long learning
ASB will focus on its own students and their need for
continuing and further education, for example by putting
together a coherent programme for alumni. In this context, the
departments, student counsellors, career guidance officers and
the Centre for Continuing and Further Education will work more
closely together.
5.5. Tasks
Below is a list of the tasks which must be undertaken to realise
the objectives within the educational area:
Fair and transparent rules concerning admission to study
programmes, including internationally recognised systems
for the admission of international students
Strategy for student counselling
Strategy for job and career guidance
New tonings for the BSc in Economics and Business
Administration programmes
New Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (Tax)
programme
IT-supported exams (E-exams)
Course and study monitoring system
Clarification of educational qualifications in relation to
career jumps
Standards for curricula
Incentive and career policy for directors of study
Integration of the Institute of Business and Technology
(IBT) in ASB
ASB in the internal education market at Aarhus University
– procedures and finances
Collaboration with the rest of Aarhus University, especially
the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of
Humanities
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
Special analysis aimed at identifying the continuing and
further educational needs of individuals and businesses,
both nationally and internationally
Establishment of one or more advisory boards for the
executive area
Further development of incentives for departments and
employees to involve themselves in executive activities
Increased interplay between visiting researchers and
executive activities
The tasks are described in greater detail in the action plans
related to the strategy.
9
10
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
6. Internal and external relations
In 2012 ASB will be well on its way to becoming a leading
international business school. The leading position will be
attained through the quality of our research and educational
activities, highlighted by our strong research centres and highprofile study programmes. To attain this leading position, we
must take the lead within sustainable growth through
innovation.
In the 2009-2012 period, ASB will develop a communication
strategy and a plan which highlights and draws attention to
ASB as an innovative, sustainable and technologically
intelligent business school which delivers research and
education of the highest quality. Initially, the task is not one of
promoting specific products; it is rather a question of direction
and of the visionary impact of the new positioning.
The aim is to transform ASB’s classic business image into
a sustainable, innovative and international business
brand.
The task is to position ASB on the map of international
business schools in the 2009-2012 period. We will do this by
developing a pivotal idea for launching ASB as an innovative,
sustainable and technologically intelligent business school
which can be used in the coming three years and in all
communicative contexts.
ASB will be pivotal in gathering and seizing ideas, developing
new products and creating solutions through the involvement of
our stakeholders in the form of members of the business
community, students, researchers and the rest of society.
Keywords for communication are:
High quality and innovation within research and
education
Visibility in all relevant academic fora, both nationally
and internationally
Proactive and committed use of personal relations
Web and dialogue-based tools to underpin our
communication at all levels
Media partnerships
Personalised communication
6.1. International relations
ASB wants all aspects of its activities to be of international
quality and thereby internationally competitive. An important
element in this development is integrated internationalisation,
i.e. the integration of internationalisation into all activities and
synergies between internationalisation activities in different
areas.
The goal is to take part in the international production of new
knowledge, to be able to compete for employees and students
internationally, to produce competitive graduates for the global
labour market and to be an attractive partner for national and
international businesses and for some of the leading business
schools in the world.
ASB will establish international partnerships which can
contribute to realising our vision and objectives for our
research and educational activities and which can augment our
focus on sustainable growth through innovation. We will reach
a new level in our strategic collaboration with a selected group
of business schools at a high international level, among other
things through our membership of Coimbra, PRME, Global
Compact, AACSB and other relevant fora.
We will, among other things, use such strategy collaboration
with strong academic environments abroad to carry out
systematic benchmarking with the dual aim of developing the
quality and efficiency of our activities and highlighting our
strong position in relation to other leading business schools.
Closer and more extensive collaboration with strong
international partners will strengthen our research and
educational activities through access to talent and through the
possibility of learning via the exchange of students and
researchers. We will work with top international researchers on
joint publications.
ASB will continue its international marketing activities and
thereby work in a targeted fashion to attract the best students
and researchers. Through strong strategic partnerships we will
achieve valuable co-branding and a stronger international
profile, and we will continue to develop our international alumni
network. As part of our efforts to ensure increased international
visibility and recognition, we will make a special effort to
develop our collaboration with the international business
community, in this context contributing to intelligent growth,
sustainability and innovation, also in international companies.
We will increase the job opportunities for our graduates with
international businesses. This will, among other things, require
broadening the activities of the career centre to include the
international market and the establishment of internships with
international businesses. Moreover, we will establish a service
offering guidance for prospective international employers at
selected management levels and ensure international
representation on the Advisory Board.
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
6.2. Competencies and relations
To become a leading international business school, ASB will
increase its strategic focus on competencies and relations.
This has a dual purpose. Strengthening the competencies and
improving the working conditions of employees heighten the
quality of ASB’s research and educational activities. At the
same time, attractive working conditions with a sound work/life
balance and integration will boost the wellbeing of employees
in general and also strengthen the recruitment base.
Flexible working methods and terms of employment will
contribute to ensuring optimum working conditions for
employees with special needs and wishes. The integration of
people’s working and private lives means that individual
employees both experience and display flexibility in relation to
their employment with ASB. Such integration can contribute to
improving the conditions for international employees – also
outside the workplace.
Attractive working conditions are a way of increasing
performance and of strengthening our ability to recruit and
maintain the best human resources.
Particular focus will be on two aspects of the working
conditions of employees: Management and culture and focus
on two groups of employees: International and female teachers
and research staff.
The aim is for ASB, in the Workplace Assessment 2012, to
have the highest general employee satisfaction score at
Aarhus University, and also for the international staff members
and the female researchers to be at least as satisfied as the
other employees at Aarhus University.
ASB introduces systematic and strategic competence
development for all leaders and starts focusing on developing
competencies within educational and research management.
We will continue to work to develop the language
competencies of ASB’s employees, and special initiatives will
be launched to strengthen ASB as an international workplace.
11
12
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
7. Administrative support functions
ASB’s visions for high-quality research and education and the
theme of sustainable growth through innovation must be
supported by economic and physical frameworks and by an
administration working to the highest international standards.
As part of ASB’s targeted efforts to fulfil the strategic objectives
for the 2009-2012 period, focus will be on the working
conditions of the teaching and research staff, including the
administrative and technical support of core functions.
Administrative support functions must contribute to creating the
best possible working conditions for ASB’s teaching and
research staff, thereby contributing to a joint focus on and
responsibility for meeting ASB’s objectives of research
excellence, world-class study programmes and interdisciplinary
collaboration on sustainable growth through innovation. This
applies, for example, in connection with applications for
research funding and reporting.
This places specific demands on the quality and availability of
the administrative support and therefore the competencies of
the administrative and technical staff which must be geared to
supporting ASB’s strategic objectives.
At the same time, it places certain demands on how support
functions are organised at departmental, ASB and AU level.
The administrative and technical support must be analysed
regularly to ensure that the administrative and technical
support contributes to creating working conditions which make
ASB an attractive workplace.
We will consider how we, as part of Aarhus University, can
participate in joint support solutions and create expedient
interfaces between the central and local administrative
functions. Optimising administrative processes is an essential
element in operating as efficiently and competitively as
possible.
7.1. Library, ICT and Media
As regards the ASB Library, ICT and Media, we will – during
the strategy period – continue our endeavours to ensure that
the ASB Library, ICT and Media stay in the technological
premier league and provide service and support of the highest
quality to ASB’s core areas of activity – fast and efficiently.
We will work to ensure extensive integration between IT
systems and data, media and contents. We will organise tasks
to involve various disciplines and regardless of ownership. We
will strengthen learning by providing inspiration for an
increasing use of digital media and ICT-assisted learning tools
in the teaching activities and ever-increasing exploitation of the
possibilities offered by thinking ‘IT in everything’. For example,
virtual assessment committees will make it possible for
internationally acknowledged top researchers to be
represented on the PhD assessment committees.
We will intensify the modernisation of the ICT infrastructure
and strengthen the quality of ICT support so as to meet the
ever more challenging requests of students and employees.
Communication to users must be improved even more, and we
will increase the level of information vis-à-vis the primary users
through the use of new communication channels and digital
media.
We will constantly focus on developing ICT solutions which add
value to ASB’s core activities. We will use ICT in a considered
fashion and create responsible, durable and sustainable ICT
solutions.
By using modern technology, media and digital infrastructure
we will continue to create new and advanced forms of
integration between the ASB Library, learning and new
possibilities and frameworks for the collaboration between the
academic organisation, the administration organisation and the
ASB Library.
7.2. Administrative support of the continued
internationalisation process
The administrative support of the efforts directed at increased
internationalisation covers a large number of tasks which will
continue to develop in the coming strategy period. These
include administrative tasks involved in accreditation and
ranking processes, Summer University, international branding,
exchange programmes, fairs for foreign students, international
workshops, identifying international sources of finance,
marketing processes etc. etc.
Offering support in connection with the many international
tasks requires cultural insight and flexibility. An international
research and educational environment requires cultural and
linguistic competencies at a high level throughout ASB.
These are some of the next steps which will be involved in the
development of ASB’s administrative support of the
internationalisation process in the coming period:
Support the establishment of benchmarking initiative
and strategic collaboration
Implement ‘IT in everything’
Continue to develop processes concerning the
advertising of jobs and recruitment as well as the
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
introduction and retaining of staff who support the
recruitment and retaining of international staff
Ensure good conditions for visiting faculty and newly
recruited international staff members, including
accommodation
Develop welcome programmes at ASB and
departmental level
Participate in the promotion of an international culture
at ASB and at departmental level which means that
new employees are naturally involved in academic
and social activities
Develop and offer courses in languages and culture
for administrative staff
Develop and offer courses in Danish language and
culture for foreign staff
Establish international exchange programmes for
administrative staff
13
14
ASB STRATEGY
2009-2012
8. En route to 2012 and new goals
In 2012 ASB will be a leading business school in terms of both
the research conducted and the study programmes offered.
ASB has developed and transformed knowledge and ideas
about growth, innovation and sustainability for the benefit of
students, companies, organisations and society. Such
innovation builds on the interplay between ASB’s strong
research environments and investments in its educational
activities.
We have achieved this because in 2012 we have, among other
things, achieved the following strategic objectives:
We have achieved EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA
accreditation.
We engage in systematic benchmarking with a view to
developing quality and efficiency in collaboration with
a relevant portfolio of three to five leading
international business schools.
We have established one or more strategic relations
in the portfolio of leading international business
schools against which we benchmark ourselves.
We are among the top 50 in one or more business
school rankings in Europe or in similar relevant
rankings covering education and/or research.
We have established an interdisciplinary theme within
sustainable growth through innovation which creates
relevant world-class research across ASB’s
departments and centres.
We produce innovative and groundbreaking research
of relevance and topicality which is communicated to
the business community and other relevant parties.
We have increased our focus on the quality of our
research and increased the number of publications in
the best journals.
We have maintained or increased our market share of
research funding and other types of external
financing.
We have created strong national and international
business partnerships.
We have a broad portfolio of high-quality study
programmes which are strongly research-based and
which focus strongly on sustainable growth through
innovation.
All our study programmes have been accredited, and
we have established a full-time MBA in English.
New study programmes are being offered jointly with
Aarhus University and with other national and
international institutions.
Our portfolio of continuing and further educational
activities has been developed, and ASB is an active
provider of courses for both the Danish and the
international business communities.
We have strengthened all research and educational
activities through the increasing exploitation of the
possibilities inherent in ‘IT in everything’.
We have satisfied and proud employees, and in the
2009-2012 period we have further strengthened the
teaching and research staff’s satisfaction with the
administrative and technical support.
We are known and recognised in all relevant
academic fora and in society in general, both
nationally and internationally.
We have launched special initiatives for international
employees and female researchers.
The above-mentioned objectives are examples of some of the
overall results which we have achieved in 2012 and which will
contribute to making ASB stand out as a leading international
business school. The strategy comes with a number of action
plans which, at an operational level, describe the results which
we will achieve in 2009-2012 to fulfil the overall strategic
objectives.
Aarhus School of Business,
Aarhus University
Fuglesangs Allé 4
DK-8210 Aarhus V
T +45 8948 6688
F +45 8615 0188
W www.asb.dk
Aarhus
School of
Business,
Aarhus
University
Growth
Innovation
Sustainability
20
09
An international
business school
We strive to rank highly as an
international business school in
terms of both research and education. We wish to integrate internationalisation in all the activities
conducted at ASB.
We collaborate with more than
200 international universities on
offering our students exchange
opportunities. Moreover, we have
entered into several double degree collaboration agreements.
Twenty-six per cent of the faculty
is made up of non-Danish faculty
members.
We publish in international
journals and collaborate with a
large number of international
companies.
Nine hundred international
degree students from 80 countries are currently taking undergraduate or graduate degrees at
ASB. Four hundred international
students are doing an exchange at
ASB, while 360 Danish students
are studying abroad with our
partners worldwide.
ASB offers a complete Englishlanguage study programme at
both undergraduate, graduate
and PhD level.
Aarhus School of Business
Aarhus University
A business
school in a
top
100
university
Special focus
for our
development
tainable companies, technologies
and solutions which can minimise
the effects of major crises. For this
to happen, companies, organisations and society at large must be
able to look at the bigger picture
and handle a complex world. ASB
wants to contribute to this development by focusing on growth,
innovation and sustainability.
All the current global crises
demand closer collaboration
between the world’s universities
and societies. Instead of focusing
on blind growth with profit as the
highest goal, there is a need to
foster intelligent growth and innovation. This means that we are
making targeted efforts to invest
in and develop economically sus-
Mission
Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University contributes added
value to society through research,
education and dialogue on companies and organisations and
their surroundings. Together with
the rest of Aarhus University, we
develop knowledge, welfare and
culture through research and
research-based education, dissemination and consulting.
Vision
ates sustainable growth through
innovation for the benefit of students, companies, organisations
and society.
ASB wants to be a leading, international business school. ASB
wants to develop and transform
knowledge and ideas, that cre-
Department of Management
Department of Marketing and Statistics
Department of Business Studies
Department of Language and Business Communication
Department of Business Law
Department of Economics
900
80
International degree students
from
countries study
at ASB,
Research
budget
166.5M
international students
doing an exchange at ASB.
ASB’s research budget totals DKK
166.5 million, of which DKK 52.7
million is externally funded.
We collaborate
with more than
200
of the faculty made up of
non-Danish faculty members.
T +45 8948 6688
F +45 8615 0188
W www.asb.dk
6 Departments
400
26%
London Business School and INSEAD in France. As of 1 January
2009, 113 universities and business schools out of approx. 4,000
around the world held EQUIS
accreditation.
Aarhus School of Business (ASB)
is a university school under
Aarhus University, one of the
top 100 universities worldwide.
ASB is one of the biggest and best
business schools in Europe. Our
EQUIS accreditation places us in
the same exclusive company as
Fuglesangs Allé 4
8210 Aarhus V
Denmark
494M
Ordinary
annual revenue
494M
440M
393M
330M
2006
2007
2008
2009
international universities.
360
Danish students
are studying abroad.
Future leaders
and specialists
ASB offers a wide range of study
programmes within subject areas
such as business languages,
business administration, business communication, business
law, European studies and IT.
All our study programmes must
prepare today’s – and tomorrow’s
– leaders and specialists to think
in terms of intelligent growth,
innovation and sustainability.
Our close collaboration with the
business community ensures
that all study programmes are
relevant and meet the demands
of Danish as well as international
companies and organisations.
25
The three-year undergraduate
programme can be supplemented by two-year graduate
programmes, which are a qualification for the three-year PhD
programme.
We offer 25 different ways to
combine undergraduate programmes and 22 different graduate programmes with a variety of
specialisations. In addition, there
are several summer schools/summer university programmes.
different ways
to combine
undergraduate
programmes.
22
Number of
graduate
programmes:
Leading within
research
CORE Centre for Organizational Renewal
and Evolution
ASBccc
ASB Centre for Corporate Communication
CCP
Center for Corporate Performance
Centlex
Centre for Lexicography
MAPP
Centre for Research on
Customer Relations in the Food Sector
CIM
Centre for Research in Integration, Educ
a
tion, Qualifications and Marginalization
CIBL
Centre for International Business Law
CORAL
Centre for Operations Research
Applications in Logistics
DOGE
Centre for Design of Global Enterprise
KCL
Knowledge Communication Lab
LsLab
Learning Styles Lab
ASB
Management
Børge Obel, Dean
Jakob Arnoldi, Vice Dean, Director of Research
Peder Østergaard, Vice Dean, Director of Education
Tove Bang, Library Director
Steen Ib Kjeldsen, Administrative director
Research
publications
Articles in peer-reviewed academic journals:
344
267
226
151
Strategy-Lab
2005
2006
2007
2008
In addition to its main address at Fuglesangs Allé 4, ASB also has premises at Haslegaardsvej 10, Hermodsvej 22 and Fuglesangs Allé 26.
A living study
environment
ASB is well-known for its unique
study environment. We have Denmark’s largest and most active
student organisation, Studenterlauget, which counts some 3,500
members. The organisation is
responsible for running the cafés
PlugInn and Caféen as well as
the popular campus bar Klubben.
Studenterlauget has about 130
employees, the majority of which
are students.
Among the many leisure time activities available to the students,
there are 27 different clubs and
associations, an extremely popular Thursday bar with a disco,
concerts featuring top bands,
theatre revue, fitness rooms and
intimate cafés.
7,696
students
2007
250
administrative
employees
2008
ASB Studenterforum
is a student union which
aims to ensure all students
244
researchers
46
professors
In addition,
160 part-time
lecturers
86
is an exclusive and free
network for everyone who
has graduated from ASB
comprising more than 6,000
alumni. Almost 500 of these
are members of our online
optimum studies in a well-run
study environment.
community – ASByou Alumni.
We have established local networks in cities and countries
all over the world – including
Copenhagen, London, China,
the Netherlands and Australia.
Close collaboration
with the business
community
ASB has an Advisory Board
consisting of external members which represent the
users – both corporations and
academic institutions. The
Advisory Board advises the
Dean and management team
on strategic matters.
PhDs
ASB Executive
Continuing & further
education for the
business community
Number of ASB
Executive courses
50
ASB Executive offers nearly 50
courses a year – both one and
two-day courses designed for
specific companies or organ
isations. A variety of activities
are offered in both Aarhus and
Copenhagen. Revenue totals
approx. DKK 35 million.
International Master in
Entrepreneurship Education and Training
ASB Executive offers continuing and further education
taught in Danish at a high
academic level.
In addition to the Graduate
Diploma programme, ASB
Executive also offers a number of master programmes
and an MBA Summer School:
Twenty-nine companies are
ASB Career Centre partners,
and new partners are joining
up all the time.
ASB has 86 PhD students,
with fifteen industrial PhDs
and sixteen externally funded
PhDs. Twenty-nine of the PhD
students are foreign nationals.
7,647
2006
Employees
arranges contact to companies
for students and graduates
and offers companies recruitment of the most competent
and motivated candidates.
ASB Alumni
8,000
8,000
540
ASB Career Centre
Executive MBA
MBA
Master in Environmental and Energy Law
Number of
students
Graduate
Diploma students
LLM in VAT and Indirect Taxes
1,279
1,237
Master in IT
Master students
1,274
Executive Master of Corporate Communication
344
277
MBA Summer School
Master of Public Governance
Printed on Arctic Volume – certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
205
2006
2007
2008
2006
2007
2008
2008
Welcome
to Aarhus School of Business,
University of Aarhus
Aarhus School of Business,
Fuglesangs Allé 4
DK – 8210 Aarhus V, Denmark
Tel.
Fax Web
+45 89 48 66 88
+45 86 15 01 88
www.asb.dk
Welcome
Welcome to Aarhus School of Business,
Welcome to
I am pleased to welcome you to Aarhus School of Business,
University of Aarhus (ASB). I hope that you find your time
here rewarding, intellectually challenging and fun.
Børge Obel
Dean, Head of School
Page 3
Welcome
Welcome to
I am pleased to welcome you to Aarhus School of Business,
University of Aarhus (ASB). I hope that you find your time
here rewarding, intellectually challenging and fun.
Børge Obel
Dean, Head of School
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
“Our EFMD accreditation places
us in the same exclusive company
as London Business School and
INSEAD in France”
One of Europe’s biggest and
best business schools
Research at the
highest level
Study programmes focusing
on quality
Your new school is one of the biggest and best business
schools in Europe. We regularly earn high marks for
our unique study environment and for the composition
of our study programmes. The merger in 2007 with the
University of Aarhus means that your diploma will also
carry the name of one of the best universities in the world.
The merger will give you more opportunities in terms of
electives and new interdisciplinary study programmes.
At Aarhus School of Business, you will be taught by
leading Danish and international researchers. Within their
individual fields of study, they help develop the latest
knowledge to benefit society, business and students like
yourself.
Because you have chosen to study at Aarhus School of
Business, you are guaranteed an education at the highest
academic level and with an international focus. In other
words, you will be well-prepared for the job market in a
globalised world.
For more than 60 years, ASB has made a contribution
to society through research, education and dialogue
on the creation and development of companies and
organisations. We continue to grow and change to meet
the requirements of modern society, ensuring that your
time at Aarhus School of Business will be of value to you
for the rest of your life.
“315 researchers are ready to share with you the
latest knowledge on the creation and development
of companies and organisations”
“80 PhD students are currently undergoing
research training”
We work vigilantly to increase the quality and
internationalisation of our activities. At the same time,
it is important to us that you find a connection between
theory and practice in your studies. We, therefore, help
you take responsibility for your learning in order to give
you the best foundation upon which to build.
“ASB offers study programmes in the areas of business
administration, business law, business languages and
corporate communication”
“3,000 young people are pursuing a bachelor degree
– 7 per cent are international students”
“2,800 young people are pursuing a master degree
“26 different ways to combine bachelor programmes”
“24 different master programmes with a variety
of specialisations”
Page 4
Page 5
“Our EFMD accreditation places
us in the same exclusive company
as London Business School and
INSEAD in France”
One of Europe’s biggest and
best business schools
Research at the
highest level
Study programmes focusing
on quality
Your new school is one of the biggest and best business
schools in Europe. We regularly earn high marks for
our unique study environment and for the composition
of our study programmes. The merger in 2007 with the
University of Aarhus means that your diploma will also
carry the name of one of the best universities in the world.
The merger will give you more opportunities in terms of
electives and new interdisciplinary study programmes.
At Aarhus School of Business, you will be taught by
leading Danish and international researchers. Within their
individual fields of study, they help develop the latest
knowledge to benefit society, business and students like
yourself.
Because you have chosen to study at Aarhus School of
Business, you are guaranteed an education at the highest
academic level and with an international focus. In other
words, you will be well-prepared for the job market in a
globalised world.
For more than 60 years, ASB has made a contribution
to society through research, education and dialogue
on the creation and development of companies and
organisations. We continue to grow and change to meet
the requirements of modern society, ensuring that your
time at Aarhus School of Business will be of value to you
for the rest of your life.
“315 researchers are ready to share with you the
latest knowledge on the creation and development
of companies and organisations”
“80 PhD students are currently undergoing
research training”
We work vigilantly to increase the quality and
internationalisation of our activities. At the same time,
it is important to us that you find a connection between
theory and practice in your studies. We, therefore, help
you take responsibility for your learning in order to give
you the best foundation upon which to build.
“ASB offers study programmes in the areas of business
administration, business law, business languages and
corporate communication”
“3,000 young people are pursuing a bachelor degree
“2,800 young people are pursuing a master degree
“26 different ways to combine bachelor programmes”
“24 different master programmes with a variety
of specialisations”
Page 6
Page 7
“We have partnership agreements with
190 universities and business schools
throughout the world. This means
a wealth of opportunities for students
to study abroad.”
International environment
Close dialogue with the
business community
We take responsibility
An important part
of your life
Our extensive network of universities and business
schools throughout the world gives you a wealth of
opportunities for gaining international experience during
your studies. You will also acquire in-depth knowledge
about management and corporate communication from
a global perspective. And at ASB you will meet visiting
students from all over the world and from many different
cultures every day.
All our study programmes have been developed in
close collaboration with the business community. This
ensures that your studies are relevant and meet the
demands of Danish as well as international companies
and organisations. This also increases your opportunities
for doing projects in collaboration with enterprises during
your studies – as well as for participating in internships and
finding relevant student jobs. Our Career Centre will help
you with the contacts you need.
At ASB, we educate the business leaders of the future.
Good leaders take responsibility for the development of
people, companies and society. That is why we appreciate
students who get involved outside their studies. Good
examples are the 68 students who act as mentors for
refugees and immigrants to help further integration. Many
students also take on the role of ‘buddies’ for international
students to help them feel at home at ASB. Your ideas are
also welcome.
The years you spend at university are an important part
of your life. Professional inspiration and hard work in our
beautiful buildings go hand in hand with social activities
such as sports, theatre, music, parties and travel. The
surroundings are important – but so is the way we treat
each other. You can help make ASB a great place to study
– and a nice place to be…
“Our 680 international degree students come
from 75 different countries”
“Each year, we receive 350 international
exchange students”
“Each year, we send 400 Danish students on
exchanges abroad”
“165 external lecturers contribute to our study
programmes with current cases from their companies”
“31 companies are currently partners with the Career
Centre – and new partners are joining us every day”
“ASB Alumni is a network for all graduates comprising
more than 5,500 businesspeople. We have sections in
Copenhagen and China and are establishing sections in
a number of other countries.”
“240 staff members look after the administrative
backdrop to your studies”
“A new code of conduct describes the values that
students feel should characterise their social lives
and cooperation at ASB”
Page 6
Page 7
“We have partnership agreements with
190 universities and business schools
throughout the world. This means
a wealth of opportunities for students
to study abroad.”
International environment
Close dialogue with the
business community
We take responsibility
An important part
of your life
Our extensive network of universities and business
schools throughout the world gives you a wealth of
opportunities for gaining international experience during
your studies. You will also acquire in-depth knowledge
about management and corporate communication from
a global perspective. And at ASB you will meet visiting
students from all over the world and from many different
cultures every day.
All our study programmes have been developed in
close collaboration with the business community. This
ensures that your studies are relevant and meet the
demands of Danish as well as international companies
and organisations. This also increases your opportunities
for doing projects in collaboration with enterprises during
your studies – as well as for participating in internships and
finding relevant student jobs. Our Career Centre will help
you with the contacts you need.
At ASB, we educate the business leaders of the future.
Good leaders take responsibility for the development of
people, companies and society. That is why we appreciate
students who get involved outside their studies. Good
examples are the 68 students who act as mentors for
refugees and immigrants to help further integration. Many
students also take on the role of ‘buddies’ for international
students to help them feel at home at ASB. Your ideas are
also welcome.
The years you spend at university are an important part
of your life. Professional inspiration and hard work in our
beautiful buildings go hand in hand with social activities
such as sports, theatre, music, parties and travel. The
surroundings are important – but so is the way we treat
each other. You can help make ASB a great place to study
– and a nice place to be…
“Our 680 international degree students come
from 75 different countries”
“Each year, we receive 350 international
exchange students”
“Each year, we send 400 Danish students on
exchanges abroad”
“165 external lecturers contribute to our study
programmes with current cases from their companies”
“31 companies are currently partners with the Career
Centre – and new partners are joining us every day”
“ASB Alumni is a network for all graduates comprising
more than 5,500 businesspeople. We have sections in
Copenhagen and China and are establishing sections in
a number of other countries.”
“240 staff members look after the administrative
backdrop to your studies”
“A new code of conduct describes the values that
students feel should characterise their social lives
and cooperation at ASB”
Growth
Innovation
Sustainability
the way we think · the way we act · the way we contribute
ASB Strategy 2008-2020

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